


Lalotai's Shiny, Fabulous, New resident

by That_Mad_Hatter



Category: Disney - Fandom, Moana - Fandom, tamatoa - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Moana - Freeform, gold - Freeform, lalotai, shiny boi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-06 22:19:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 24,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8771584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/That_Mad_Hatter/pseuds/That_Mad_Hatter
Summary: You didn't mean to fall down there! It just sort of... happened. And now a ginormous crab is trying to kill you.Warning! Before you read this, please understand that the ending for this is very very badly written, and I would like to apologize in advance for your disappointment in it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize deeply

“Ahh the ocean. It's a beautiful place isn't it?” You gushed at the view from your boat. The sun was just setting, making the water look like it was on fire. You sat down and stuck your toes in, the water tickled. “Oh I could stay out here forever…” You sighed, and laid down, feet still in the water. You had been sailing for quite a while now. So much so that you weren't very sure of where you were. “ I'll just have to use the stars to get home then.” You stared up at the sky, the sun was completely down now. 

 

Hoisting yourself to your feet, you lifted a hand. “Alright… that's west, I should goooo....” You stopped. A large rock was in the distance. You hadn't heard of any other islands being out here.  
Suddenly feeling adventurous you decided to investigate. As you drew closer, the island became taller and taller, finally stopping when it seemed like it was touching the stars themselves. Your boat thunked against the rocks.

 

“It'll only be a minute…” You tied the boat to a branch that stuck out of the ground, and began to climb. The land mass was very smooth and cool to the touch. “How- h-high does this thing go?!” You muttered as you reached for another hold. But your hand slipped! You gasped, your heart racing as you moved to hold on to the cliffside again. 

 

“Th- that was close.” You bit your lip nervously. Should I really be climbing this thing? You thought to yourself. “... I'll go a bit further.” You reached for another hand hold but as you did your foot slipped. “AHH!” You fell of the side of the cliff, the air being sucked away from you as you fell. You turned in the air and stared down at the water, which was rapidly coming towards you, waves slamming up against the sides of this god forsaken rock.

 

You sucked in as much air as you could as you plunged into the water, the impact pushed all their air out of you. Your skin stung. You tried to swim up but the current pulled you down deeper and deeper into the murky water. You could see the light draining, the further you went, your eyes tsung from the salt water. 

 

You began to feel fuzzy, your lungs were on fire. Pleading for any amount of air they could get. You gasped for air, water rushing in, you began to black out. A small glimmer of light suddenly appeared. 

 

Is that heaven? You wondered. Your vision began to shake and your closed your eyes accepting your fate.

 

When suddenly, you were really cold. You weren't in the water anymore? You coughed and sputtered, as water drooled out of your mouth. You gagged, and breathed in quickly. “That d-didnt k-kill m-me?” Your voice shook as you sat up. You looked around dazedly. It seemed to be some kind of underwater cave, but it was extremely bright for some reason. You looked down. You were sitting in a giant pile of gold. “Wh-where the heck am I?” You were pretty sure heaven didn't look like this. You stood up, your knees wobbling as you did.  
“Hello?” you called out for someone. Anyone… just so you could know you weren't alone.

 

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. You caught your balance, as you were slowly lifted up into the air. You stared in disbelief, as a gigantic violet head sprouted out. Two enormous eyes, the size of your body popped up on either side, and slowly twisted around to look at you. “Well well well” The monster chuckled, the ground shaking with it. You fell to your knees, but still stared on. 

 

“You aren't a fish.” it squinted its eyes at you. “Are you a thief?!” 

 

“N-no!” you raised your hands in defence. The eyes narrowed themselves. “Disgusting little trash monster…” It muttered. 

 

“I can hear you, ya know.” You stood up and stomped your foot. 

 

“I wasn't making an effort to stop you from hearing.” The eyes rolled, as two gigantic claws rose above the head, and snapped down at you. They caught you by the ankle. 

 

“H-hey! Put me down!”

 

Instead of doing that though, the monster brought you in front of the head, revealing it to be an enormous crab! “What the-”

 

A second claw grabbed your other ankle and spread you legs apart. “What are you?” he squinted down at you. “Your very dull looking.” He mused. 

 

“Oh wait I know what you are. You're a human. And a pretty nasty one at that.” he chuckled, “what are you doing down here? Lalotai is a long way from home, babe.”

 

You blushed at the name, “don't call me that.”

 

“You're right, babe doesn't fit you, but you're not going to be alive much longer so it doesn't matter.” 

 

The beast lifted you closer to his face now, his breath stank of fish, and you could see barnacles on his teeth. You tried to squirm out of his grip. “W-WAIT!” you kicked your legs and desperately tried to pull yourself away. 

 

“I CAN- I CAN BE HELPFUL! USEFULL!”

 

The crabs tongue stuck out and licked your arm. “I CAN…. I CAN GET YOU STUFF!” you pleaded. “JUST PLEASE! DON'T EAT ME!” tear formed in your eyes now, the salty fluid dropping down onto the cave floor. The crab stopped, and pulled you away. 

 

“Did you say… stuff?”

 

You sighed in relief. “Y-yes.” You tried to muster a fake smile, but it didn't work.

 

“Babe, this isn't just stuff. Have you seen me? Im gorgeous” He smirked. He spun in a circle, light bouncing off of his golden back. “I'm as shiny as I can get baby, what makes you think a puny little thing like you can make me even better than I already am?” 

 

Dang… he was right. How were you going to get him more stuff? I suppose I can just lie about getting him more stuff and then run out of here… You though to yourself. You looked at the crab who looked like he was getting more impatient by the second. “I can… polish your things, and I’m pretty good at finding… objects.” The crab licked its lips, as it contemplated this, eyeing you while doing so.

 

He quickly turned around, swinging you with him, and threw you onto the cold cavern floor. “Alright babe, you can stay. But you're staying in there.” You looked around yourself. A large cage like looking plant curled around you. 

 

“But what about the-”

 

“You're staying here, and you're going to make me even more glamorous than I already am.”

 

You pushed yourself up off the floor, and stared up at him into his eyes.

 

“And if you don't… I'll just eat you.”


	2. Chapter 2

You shivered on the cold floor. The crab monster had left you to freeze in the dark, while he slept in the sun beams. You sat up, and scooted over to the bars. Peeking out you noticed that the crab's eyes were open and staring directly at you, unmoving. Taken aback, you scooted away from the bars, and faced the other way.

 

“Hey, no need to give me the cold shoulder babe. It's your fault you're here.”

 

“...”

 

“It's not nice to not respond to people.” The crab stood up and walked over to the cage. Sticking his enormous claw in, he picked you up and glared down at you.  
“Hey.”

 

“...”

 

“HEEEEY! “ the crab shook you up and down, making your neck hurt. “ Say something!”

 

“I have nothing to say to you.”

 

The crab boredly rolled his eyes and tossed you onto the pile of gold in the middle of the room. “I thought humans were supposed to be entertaining.” He huffed. 

 

You watched as the crab mundanely picked up a sea shell and smashed it with his claws. “We're gonna need to go scavenging today babe.” he called over to you. “And by we, I mean you.”

 

Oh yeah. You had forgotten about that little deal. It was a false promise, so you hadn't really intended to keep it. “Uhhh… ok… crab guy.” You realized you didn't really know his name. One of his eyes curled around his head and stared down at you. Slowly the second followed, until he had finally just turned his whole body to you.

 

“Crab guy?” his eye twitched. “Listen human, I am not just some random crab. I am the most beautiful thing down here. Tamatoa, is glamorous! He is not just some floozy little thing like you.”

 

“I-I'm not floozy!” Your face turned a bright red out of embarrassment. 

 

Tamatoa smirked and leaned down closer to you. “Oh yes you are babe” he cooed. 

 

“Stop calling me babe!”

 

“Aww, you're adorable when you're flustered babe,” Tamatoa held a smug look on his face. Rubbing things in was always fun to him.

 

‘This crab is unbearable!’ you thought.

 

“For the love of god please stop.” You turned away from him. 

 

He chuckled and stood up. ”What's so funny?” you asked, looking back to him. He then walked over to a separate pile of treasures, and began to stack some onto his shell. “Oh, just the fact that you think you're in control.”

 

You watched as the crab carefully put tiny gold pieces onto his shell. This was your chance! You tiptoed off the pile of gold, and slowly made your way to the door. But Tamatoa turned back around! You bolted! You sprinted closer and closer to the door! Freedom was just a few steps away! The crab chased after you though, his legs booming with each step. He scooped you up and slammed you against a wall. 

 

“Where do you think you're going?” He leaned closer to you, the pincers of his claws digging into your skin. “It's not that easy to leave me,” he purred. You spit, the saliva landing on his chin. The giant wiped it away with his other claw. 

 

“I don't think that was the best idea…” You whispered to yourself. 

 

“I agree” the monster snarled.

 

He threw you into the gold pile again. “That's not how you treat your host, little human.” He stomped over to you. You put your hands up in defence as he swung a claw at you. You fell onto your back, Tamatoa towering over you. 

 

All you could do was stare helplessly up at him. He smirked and stuck a leg next to your left side. He leaned down close to you. Tears began to form in your eyes, and then rolled down your cheeks. Tamatoa looked… amused by this. “P-please” You stuttered, “I won't do it again. I p-promise. I'm sorry!’ 

 

Tamatoa squinted at you. You could see your reflection in his eyes, he was so close. Your vision began to blur from the tears. This was it. If he wasn't going to kill you before, he definitely was going to now. 

 

Tamatoa sighed and rolled his eyes. “Quit your blubbering human. It doesn't suit you.” You blinked in confusion. Wasn't this supposed to be the part where the horrible monster guts you like a fish? Was he really… not that horrible? You pushed the thought out of your mind and wiped the tears away. 

 

“A-are you not going to eat me?” You asked quietly. He scowled and stepped away from you. “No. Not yet anyways…” He quickly glanced at you hoping for some kind of reaction. Instead though, you pushed yourself up into a sitting position. 

 

“Why aren't you going to kill me then?”

 

“ You're making it sound like you want me to. Because if that's so, I'd be happy to eat a little dish like you.” he poked you in the chest. You pushed his claw away.

 

“No I don't. I'm… just confused.” You stood up. Tamatoa slightly shifted himself to block the door better. Obviously, he was not going to let you go near it anytime soon. You brushed a hand through your hair roughly and looked down at the floor. You noticed glitter was sticking to you.

 

“We made a deal babe, you get me my things, and I don't kill you.”  
Your head shot up. “Then WHY did you toss me across the room!?”

 

The crab turned defensive. “HEY! I said I won't kill you. I said nothing about maiming you. I can do whatever I want.” 

 

“That's not how things work.” you muttered. You glared at him, and stomped over to the cage like place, you called your room. 

 

“You've got glitter,” he called after you, “all over your back.” He chuckled at the sight. 

 

“And you've got it all over YOUR BUTT!” You shouted back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tamatoa takes you to a ship to find something

Tamatoa looked across the room to you. You were leaning against your little dwelling he had so generously given you.  
He could hear you muttering, but couldn't make it all out. 

 

“-control me-” was all he could catch.  
“What was that babe?” He called over to you. You looked up and him. “N-nothing.”  
Ooooh he knew it was something. But he wasn't in the mood to interrogate at the moment. He stood up and stretched his legs out. 

 

“Come on babe, it's time to go. “ he rolled his head around, causing small clicking sounds. 

 

You stood up. “Where are we going?”

 

Tamatoa sighed as if that was the stupidest question ever. “We have to go get something. So come on. “

 

You slowly walked over to him and looked blankly into his face. “A bit of speed would be nice. “ he grabbed you by the arm and tossed you onto his shell. 

 

The outside of the cave was huge! You could see the ocean so clearly! You never knew that fish could be that big! You gaped at the view. “T-this is amazing!” You gushed. You looked to Tamatoa to see what he thought. He looked… annoyed. 

 

“What's wrong T-”

 

“The oceans boring babe. I'm the real attraction here.” Tamatoa stomped down the trail. You noticed strange pink and green plants everywhere. Some appeared to have eyes. You passed under a large tree, that appeared to have razor sharp teeth. You shuddered as you noticed some were stained red. 

 

The wildlife didn't much more friendly either. Large bat-like creatures shrieked at the sight of you and swooped down. “ACK!” You ducked as one came extremely close. Tamatoa turned his eyes to see what was going on. They quickly grew wide and he began to swat the monsters away. You covered the back of your neck as another swooped down. The monsters claws cut into your finger tips. 

 

You hissed in pain, as Tamatoa quickly grabbed the beast and crushed them in his claws with a horribly loud crunch. 

 

You stayed absolutely still. There were no sounds anymore but a gross chewing. You peeked up at the sound. Tamatoa had stuffed the monster into his mouth and was now eating it. 

 

You quickly crawled over to the edge of his shell and threw up. 

 

He swallowed. “What's the problem babe? Free food is free food. “

 

You wiped spit from you lip disgustedly. You looked down at your fingers. They were bleeding…

 

“You would happen to… have any bandages?” You asked the crustacean. He shook his head no. 

 

Of course! Why would he?! You grabbed your shirt and began to tear a long strand of the bottom off. After that you ripped it into smaller pieces and wrapped them around your fingers. 

 

“...there.” You wiggled your fingers. The fabric didn't help much, but it helped. 

 

Tamatoa rolled his eyes and continued to walk. “Ripping your clothes. How ugly looking”

 

“Well it's the best that I've got..” you moved back to your spot and sat down. 

 

“...what were those things?”

 

“What? The flying little mongrels? “

 

“Yeah. Those”

 

“I don't care enough to know. “

 

You sighed. You just wanted to know more about this place. About your captor. You were dying to know something! 

 

“Well…” you shifted in the gold, “what do you care about?”

 

“Gold” he instantly replied. At least he knew what he liked. 

 

“That's it?”

 

“Yes. Speaking of which were here. “ the crustacean stopped in his racks and stared down a large ravine. You moved to the edge of the shell and looked down. “How deep does that go?” You asked curiously. 

 

“A fee miles. “ the crab sighed. He moved over to a winding trail and walked slowly down into the dark ravine. 

 

You squinted your eyes in the dark, when suddenly a bright blue illumination appeared beneath you. 

 

“T-ta-tama…”

 

“It's tamatoa baby, get it right. “

 

“T-tamatoa you're glowing!”

 

“I'm always glowing babe.” He rolled his eyes. You moved off of his shell and now stood on the back of his neck. 

 

“What do you think you're doing. “ he asked. 

 

“Getting a better view of down here.” You looked through the darkness and spotted a wrecked ship, that was half submerged in water. 

 

“Is that where we're going?” You pointed at the boat. Tamatoa nodded. 

 

“Yeah. There's a specific thing in there I've been wanting. “

 

As you reached the boat, you realized its massiveness. It was even bigger than the crab! 

 

Tamatoa pulled you off of his shell and set you on a split plank. 

 

“Here's what I need you to get. Are you listening human?”

 

You nodded. 

 

“Alright. There is an enormous gem in that ship. I'd get it but…” tamatoa glanced at the rocks surrounding the wreck. “I'd rather not get squished. “

 

You stood up. “Ok… how will I know if it's the right gem?”

 

“Oh you'll know. “ tamatoa grinned and pushed your through a hole in the floor behind you. 

 

You landed with a loud thud on the dusty floor below. Splinters dug into your skin. You rubbed dirt out of your eyes. 

 

The blue rays of light softly casted down on you, causing a somewhat eerie feeling to your surroundings. 

 

You stood up and took a 360. There was a small door behind you, and a hallway in front of you. You walked down the hallway. You footsteps echoed off the walls. 

 

The boat slanted downward now, and slowly but surely soon you were standing in water. You trudged forward through it. The water slowly became higher and higher. 

 

“... the waters getting really deep…” you muttered. You pushed a door open. The inside seemed to be a cabin. The gem wouldn't be in there…

 

How were you even supposed to know what it'd look like? Was it humungous? 

 

You shut the door and sloshed through the water, but stopped when you heard a small skuttling sound. 

 

“...h-hello?” You squinted through the darkness. There was no sound. You pushed forward.

 

Soon you came to a new part of the ship. It had been completely split in half. This part was completely submerged in water. You could see a small glow coming from somewhere down in the murky water. 

 

You sucked in as much air as you could and swam down. You forced your eyes open, and noticed a small hole in a wall that led to the light. 

 

You tried to squeeze through but the hole was too small. You resurfaced. 

 

“H-HEY!” You shouted for tamatoa. 

 

“TAMATOA!” You called. But you were too far into the ship.

 

You swam over to the edge and pulled yourself to a shallower area. 

 

CLICK CLICK CLICK

 

You looked up. There was that sound again. “Is someone there?” You whispered, afraid of the answer. 

 

You looked around in the dark. The small light from the hole offered no answers. 

 

You turned to leave when a dark smoke cloud formed in the water. Something grabbed you by the ankle! You screamed and tried to kick it off, but it quickly pulled you under the water.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tamatoa has to save you

Tamatoa stood at the edge of the water. He smiled down at his reflection. He was just so sparkly. That rock was definitely going to be the best prize. 

 

“Shiny…” he hummed to himself “just so-” he paused at the muffled sound of screaming. 

 

“Eh.” He shrugged and adjusted a piece of gold on his leg. 

 

“You,” he grinned at himself, “are fabulous.” He poked the water smugly. 

 

You screamed again. He rolled his eyes and walked over to the boat. Listening carefully for another sound. “Babe?” He called for you. But you didn't reply. 

 

You were being dragged down into the water. The dark cloudiness blocked out your eyesight. Whatever had grabbed you was now slowly making its way up your body, curling around your legs and stomach. You kicked desperately. The entity just holding tighter. 

 

The mysterious attacker pulled you through the hole in the wall, and soon you resurfaced. You gulped the air greedily, and tried to escape the death grip it had on you. 

 

“Human?” Tamatoa knocked on the side of the ship. “Hey… HEY!” He smacked the wall. The wooden structure smashed beneath his claws. “...oops.”

 

Your eyes darted in the direction of a loud crashing sound. Was THAT the monster? You couldn't tell. 

 

You looked around the room. A large diamond flowed in front of you. But that wasn't what caught your attention. Around the gen were thousands of bugs. You shuddered at the sight. “HELP!” You screamed. The bugs covered the table the gem sat on. They buzzed in the air. They even floated around in the water. It was disgusting to say the least. 

 

Tamatoa heard your faint call for help. He quickly glanced at the rocks sitting on the top of the ship. 

 

“TAMAAAAAA” 

 

He grimaced and pushed into the ship. Crushing the sides. He swung at the walls crashing through one after the other. 

 

You struggled in the grip of what held you. Your eyes now adjusting to the sudden light, your eyes followed a long thin body up to the table. Thousands of pointy legs stuck out of the body. “EUGH” your eyes bulged at the sight. A ginormous millipede held you. The head tilted to one side as it slowly began to lift you towards it. An eye twitched slightly as it opened its jaw. You were now close to being eaten alive. You pushed your hands in front of you and tried to keep the millipede at a distance. When suddenly a claw burst through the ceiling. Water rushing in with it. 

 

You looked up in shock. Tamatoa stuck an eye through the hole. “HEY! NOBODY EATS MY HUMAN BUT ME!” He snarled.

 

The millipede dropped you onto the bug covered floor and creepily crawled onto the wall. You screeched and hopped up off the bugs. “EWEWEWEWEW” 

 

Tamatoa swung his claw around trying to hit the insect. (All the whole crushing support beams) You heard a loud crash and the snapping of wood. 

 

The millipede escaped through a large crack in the wall. And dust began to fall through the little cracks in the ceiling. 

 

You quickly turned and grabbed the diamond. “Was this what you wanted?” You asked the crab. His eye widened and he squeaked in excitement. “YES!” 

 

Another loud crash caused you to jump. Tamatoa lowered his claw down and you climbed onto it. 

 

“We’d better get going” you crawled up his arm and onto his shell as he quickly climbed back to the opening of the ship. 

 

As soon as you were outside, the ship completely fell apart. Giant rocks now stood in its place. 

 

Tamatoa get a slightly annoyed look at it. He reached onto his back and grabbed you. “My, my, my…” he pinched the diamond in you hands and pulled it away. “Isn't this a beauty?” He squinted at it. 

 

“You're welcome.” You muttered. 

 

“Huh? Did you say you're welcome?” Tamatoa laughed. “For what? Destroying that ship? Making me go in there when it was clearly your job?” 

 

You squinted at him. “I almost drowned in there. I was almost EATEN in there!” 

 

“Yeah. Almost. You're welcome.” The crab sarcastically grinned, and then turned and carefully placed the gem on the center of his back. 

 

“...why do you do that?” You asked. He seemed to already have a lot of stuff on his shell. You didn't see why he would need more. He boredly tossed you onto his back and began to walk back to his home. 

 

“It's what makes me… me. “ he smiled to himself. “I am as shiny as the sun itself. No one can deny my beauty.” 

 

You thought it looked tacky. But… still. It made him happy. And you were just glad you were learning something about him. 

 

“Why do you walk around looking like a dead fish?” Tamatoa laughed. His laughed boomed throughout the trees. 

 

You pursed your lips. “I thought I looked nice…” you muttered. 

 

“Oh please. Your clothes are torn, you have bloody hands, you're covered in dirt and glitter… and you're not even acknowledging it babe.” 

 

You looked down at yourself. He was right… “psh so what?” You leaned back onto the gold. “Looks aren't that important!” 

 

Tamatoa stopped in his tracks. You almost slipped off of his shell. 

 

“Looks are everything” the crab stared at the ground. “And I can't be seen with you looking like a pile of garbage.” 

 

“Wait what?”

 

“I'm going to have to fix you.” Tamatoa smirked.

 

“WHAT?”


	5. Chapter 5

When you both had reached the cave, you slipped off his shell onto the floor. 

 

“You are not going to ‘fix me’” you crossed your arms in defiance. 

 

The crustacean raised an eyebrow. Ugh! He had that stupid smirk on his face again. You wish you could just wipe it off. 

 

“I can do whatever I want. Remember?” He poked you in the chest. You stumbled backwards a few feet. 

 

“You cant make me do anything!” You scowled. 

 

“Uh huh…” tamatoa grinned and leaned down towards you. “I can't make you stay here… can't force you to talk to me… make you get my treasures for me… oh wait! “ he rolled his eyes and laughed. “Babe, you've been doing nothing but that.” 

 

Your mouth dropped open. Good gods, he was right! That made you even more angry. “Well you aren't going to force me to change my appearance!” 

 

Tamatoa sighed and picked you up. “Hmm…” he eyed you. Your face turned a bright red and though you were wearing a top, you put your arms up anyways. “S-stop that. “ 

 

Tamatoa gave you a suggestive look. “Does it bother you?” 

 

You nodded. He just kept on staring at you though. “...hmmm” you felt very awkward at the moment. 

 

“Maybe a dress?” He muttered. 

 

Why in the world would he have a dress was beyond you. “How about…” he spoke again. 

 

“How about i stay in the outfit I'm wearing right now!” You smiled sarcastically and tried to push yourself out of his grip. 

 

“Shush, I'm thinking.” 

 

You rolled your eyes. Suddenly he turned around and threw you into your little ‘room’. 

 

“I'll be right back.” He winked at you and walked off. 

 

Why was he even doing this? Because your top was ripped up? What a weird guy. No one you knew would go to all that trouble to… you pushed the thought out of your head. 

 

Tamatoa had left the cave. He pretty much ran back to the ravine to a separate, (and much cleaner) ship. He smashed it apart and began to sort through the pieces of wood and broken furniture. Until finally he had found it. It was perfect! Just need a bit more gold! And to… uh… lose the skeleton that was still wearing it. 

 

You poked at the dirt on your floor. You had drawn a little picture of a boat in it, when suddenly tamatoa re-entered the cave. 

 

“That was fast.” You stood up and walked over to the bars. 

 

He walked over to a gold pile and picked up some gold coins. “This will do.” He muttered. He turned to your cage and dumped the stuff inside. 

 

“There.” He sighed, satisfied. He sat down and stared at you. 

 

“Uh…” you picked up the material he had dropped. There was a top made of light brown material with a gold trim on the end. And the bottom was orange, with brown diamond across the bottom. You looked up at the crab. “...thank you.”

 

He smiled. “Go on.” 

 

“What am I supposed to do?”

 

“Put it on”

 

“No!” You dropped the clothes on the floor. “Not in front of you!”

 

Tamatoa scowled. “Hey!” He stood up. “I wasn't going to watch! “ he turned to leave. “The very IDEA of me going that LOW” he glanced back at you. “CRAZY” 

 

Wow he must have been mad. His entire face turned a bright red. 

 

You peeked through the bars. He was definitely gone. 

 

You slipped the skirt on over your other one, and then pulled the bottom one off. The orange skirt stopped a little above your knees. That was gonna make it hard to move around...But at least you had gotten it on. 

 

Now… the hard part came. You glanced back at the door. Tamatoa was still nowhere in sight. You turned to the wall and slipped your top of. You grabbed the white one but suddenly heard a small sound. You pulled the top on and turned to see what had caused the sound. 

 

And surely enough, THERE HE WAS. sitting right there! 

 

You grimaced. “D-did you-”

 

Tamatoas eyes were kissed as he stared at you. You stomped over to the bars and stuck your hand through the gap. “You can't do that!” You poked him in the chest. 

 

He looked down at you, confusedly. “Can't do what babe?”

 

“DONT YOU BABE ME”

 

“But I-”

 

“YOU DONT DO THAT TO A PERSON! “ you shouted. “It's not ok!” 

 

Tamatoa stood up and shrugged. “Well, not to a person.” 

 

“...what's that supposed to mean?”

 

“Well, you're not a person to me. “ he smirked. 

 

“What-”

 

“You heard me. You aren't a person. You're a toy, a nick-knack , a novelty, a… shiny thing. “ 

 

Your eyes widened. “I-I am a human being. “ 

 

“Not anymore babe. “ 

 

He reached in and grabbed you. You struggled in his grip, wanting more than ever to go home. 

 

“I am not a possession!” You argued. “I am a living, thinking, feeling PERSON!”

 

Tamatoa sighed and threw you into a sparkling pile of objects. “You're also not very shiny yet.” He raised a brow. 

 

You sat up. Glitter clung to your skin. “I am not ok with this.” You muttered and tried to push off the glitter. 

 

“Hey stop that, it's coming off.”

 

“That's the idea” you glared at him. “Why do you want me to be shiny anyways? Won't that be… competition?” Maybe you could appeal to his ego. 

 

“HAH! As if you could compete with me” he laughed. 

 

“Well then WHY make me glittery?” 

 

“I can't be seen walking around with some… gross, squishy little thing like you.”

 

You blinked. “I'm still squishy though. “

 

“Yes but the main problem is that you're gross.” Tamatoa picked you up and spun you around. 

 

“There. That looks better. Oh wait…” he noticed the cloth still on your fingers. 

 

“These have to go.” He poked them. You pulled your hand away. 

 

“I need that.” 

 

Tamatoa groaned, “you are so problematic today babe!” 

 

“If it comes off, my hand will not heal as fast. I need my hands so I can find your stupid treasure. So the cloth stays. “ 

 

Tamatoa stared at you. “...fine. But as soon as you're better, it goes.”

 

You sighed, and walked over to the cage. “I need to get out of here…”


	6. Chapter 6

The cage bars loomed over you. You huffed and kicked some dirt angrily. Tamatoa looked over to you. “Hey babe, why are you tearing up my place”

 

You shot him a look, and sat down on the floor. Tamatoa scooted over to you. “Daww are you still mad?” You nodded. Of course you were still mad! It was just 10 minutes ago that he had made you mad!

 

“Get over it.” he poked you in the side. You squeeked and hugged yourself. Tamatoa’s head tilted to one side. “What was that?” he laughed. He moved his claw and poked you again. This time you covered your side though. The crab frowned. “Aw come on, make the sound again.” 

 

“No! I am not going to do that.” You were not going to do another thing for him. Especially if it was for his own entertainment. 

 

“What other sounds can you make?” Tamatoa asked, a suggestive look sent shivers down your spine. You scooted away from him. “Leave me alone.” You buried your head in your knees, when suddenly you felt yourself sliding across the floor. Tamatoa was pushing you towards him. 

 

You quickly stood up and leaped out of the way of his claw. “Come on babe, I'm bored. I got you all dressed up, the least you could do was entertain me.” he leaned into one of his claws tiredly. 

 

You rolled your eyes and walked towards a gold pile and sat down, tamatoa followed you. You picked up a piece of gold and looked closely at it. It had tiny scratches in the sides, and a face carved into the front. 

 

“Tell me a story or something.” Tamatoa poked you again. You pushed his claw, “shove off.”

 

“Huh?’

 

“It means leave me alone.” You muttered and laid down in the gold. Warm sun beams cast down onto the cave through the water. You stared up at the ocean and sighed. You longed to see the sky again. Count the stars… hide from the rain… see that lovely blue. 

 

Tamatoa laid down beside you and glanced up at the water. He chuckled. 

 

“Why do you like looking at that so much?” He asked you. You sat up and looked at him. 

 

Was he… genuinely interested? What?

 

“Well…” you hesitated, “I love the ocean. It's so… vast, and unexplored. It's dangerous and exciting! “ you gushed. “I love it. I love it a lot… I can't believe I'm stuck underneath it.”

 

You sighed and laid back down. You heard the crab laugh. “That's the only reason? The oceans not that interesting babe.” You glared at him. 

 

“It's more interesting than you.” You muttered. 

 

“Hey! “ tamatoa lifted his head. “I can be dangerous and exciting!” 

 

You rolled your eyes. “Vast and unexplored?” 

 

“Yeah! THAT TOO! Wait… no not that part.”

 

You choked as he said that. You sat up and stared at him. 

 

He raised a brow and smirked. “Ooooh look at you babe. You've got a dirty mind” 

 

You felt your stomach twist. “Uhhh…”

 

Tamatoa lifted a claw and place it under your chin, lifting your head up. Your face turned a bright red. 

 

PLEASE tell me this is not happening! You prayed to yourself. 

 

Tamatoa leaned very close to your face now. You began to sweat. Right as his face was about to touch yours, he began to crack up. 

 

“AHAHAHAHAHA!” He dropped you on the floor. You looked up in confusion. 

 

“OHOHOHO, that was too good!” He wheezed. You scowled and began to walk away. 

 

“OHHH you should have seen your FACE! I mean, WHAT were you expecting me to do?” 

 

Your eyes began to water as you reached the cage. You knelt down in front of it. You began to shake a little. 

 

“Humans are just hilarious!” Tamatoa wiped a tear from his eye, and looked over to you. He stopped laughing. 

 

This wasn't funny anymore…

 

“Uhh… babe? What are you doing?”

 

You didn't respond...

 

“You're supposed to be laughing too hon’.”

 

You didn't respond to the new name...

 

“Aww, are you upset?” 

 

You didn't respond to his teasing...

 

Tamatoa scratched his head. Why wouldn't they just react?! It's no fun if they don't do anything. 

 

The crustacean walked over and poked you in the side. Not even a peep. 

 

“Human?”

 

You buried your head in your knees. Your eyes grew hot, and your stomach felt empty. 

 

Tamatoa nudged you in the back. 

 

“G-go away.” You muttered. 

 

You didn't even know why you were upset… you didn't like Tamatoa! Why would you let him see you like this? Let him toy with you, and force you to do things. This was exactly what made you hate him! So… why were you crying? 

 

What were you even expecting him to do? You were so embarrassed. He had been so close to you… you could feel his breathe on your face. You could see the details in his eyes. What did you think he was going to do? Surely not kiss you! That would be ridiculous. 

 

After all, a kiss is shared between people who care about each other. And obviously you hated tamatoa. 

 

It was just the heat of the moment. That's what had gotten you so flustered! 

 

Tamatoa poked you. You slowly looked over your shoulder at him. Your eyes were stained red with tears. 

 

“Aww… babe…” tamatoa whispered to himself. 

 

You wiped the tears away and frowned. “What d-do you want now?” You stood up. 

 

“Are you gonna make fun of me some more?” 

 

Tamatoa knelt down beside you and shook his head no. “No, not right now.”

 

You looked at him in disbelief. Tamatoa motioned for you to come closer. 

 

You walked over to him. He wrapped his arms and around you and pulled you close. You blinked. “What are y-” 

 

“Shhhhh” he cut you off. You looked up at him. Was this some creepy way of apologizing? 

 

He squished you into his chest. He was very soft here, you noticed. You closed your eyes and listened to his heart beat. 

 

Babump

 

Babump

 

You slowly fell asleep to the steady sound.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapters a bit short but oh well

Tamatoa sat still for a long time. Doing nothing but listening to your soft breathing. He liked how it tickled his skin. Wait. No!

 

He doesn't like you at at… why is he… even hugging you? God humans were so confusing. 

 

He looked down at you and rolled his eyes. Great. They fell asleep! 

 

He was about to toss you in the cage, when he had changed his mind and instead lightly picked you and and carried you over to the brightly lit pile. 

 

He moved his claw close and was about to slide you out when you suddenly shifted and hugged onto one of his spikes. 

 

“Uh…” he blushed and shook his claw trying to get you to let go. You groaned in your sleep or him to stop and waved your hand lazily in the air. 

 

A smiled curled onto his face as you shifted to hug the spike better. He slowly and softly laid down in the gold and held his claw closely to his face. 

 

He admired your new outfit he had chosen. The top was just short enough for some of your stomach to show. He pushed some of the cloth up to reveal more. 

 

“Humans are so…” he poked you, “ squishy.” 

 

You rolled over restlessly, pulling the top back down in the process. Some of your hair fell into your face as well. The crab gently pushed it out of the way and smiled at your sleeping form. 

 

You were so… tolerable when you were asleep. He liked it. 

 

You looked so at peace for once. Not crying, or shouting angrily. He realized this was probably the only time he'd ever get to see you this relaxed. He smiled slightly. “A little rarity for myself.” He mused as he looked down at you again. 

 

He admired your outfit some more. The gold trim reflected the lights. TAMAS eyes scrolled down to your skirt. Though less reflective, the glitter that still clung to you was also quite dazzling. 

 

He smirked, pleased with the job he had done, he was about to set you down when he noticed your hair. It was the only full part about you left. 

 

“Well beside your personality” he joked with himself. 

 

He began to hum a soft lullaby and turned his claw over so that you laid in the gold now. 

 

He quietly stood up and began to look around the cave. Humming the tune slightly louder the further away he got. He slightly realized that this was a side of him he'd probably never let you see either, but he disregarded it. Putting his mind back onto the task at hand. 

 

He pushed through some old piles of trinkets. Carefully he picked up a tiny pink shell, a purple spiraled shell, soft blue and pink pearls, and some gold coins. 

 

He pressed the coins into each other and carefully bent them around the shells. Then after that, he pressed the pearls into the sides of the coins. 

 

“Hmm…” he glanced over to you to make sure you were still dozing away. Surely enough, you laid there in the sparkling sun. Oh this was fun! He thought to himself as he turned back his project. 

 

“How will it stay?” He muttered. He dug in the pile and found a curly piece of copper wire and tied it to the piece. 

 

“Perfect!” He kissed the object and silently bounded towards you. He excitedly picked you up and delicately tied the object into your hair. “A little rarity for my rarity. “

 

The piece shone like the sun, and sparkled like the sea. His grin grew even larger, his eyes popping as he looked down at you. 

 

You were just… so sparkly! And you weren't complaining! He should make you fall asleep more! You were actually quite fun! 

 

Suddenly your eyes began to twitch! OH NO! You were waking up! Tamatoa quickly dropped you into the coins and leaped away! 

 

“OW!” You sat up and rubbed your butt. “WHAT was that for?!”

 

“I don't know what you're talking about.” Tama examined the claw you had been in. Some of your sparkles had come off on him. 

 

“Yes you do?”

 

“No. You're crazy. I have no idea what you're talking about” he lied. 

 

“Gah what a jerk.” You muttered.


	8. Chapter 8

You stood up and stretched your back. You didn't even remember falling asleep. Just that you had been hugged by that giant crab. 

 

You glanced over at him. He was staring at you again, looking as annoyed as ever. 

 

“What?” You put your hands on your hips and turned to him. “Did I do something?” 

 

He shook his head. “No babe, it's just that it's gonna be actual bed time soon.” He sighed and walked over to you. You stared up at the massive crab. He picked you up by the hips and walked back over to the cage. 

 

“So I'm just spending the night on the floor again” you mutters as he dropped you into the little area. 

 

You sat up. “Great…” you crawled over to some soft looking plants and laid down on top of them. They poked you a bit, but you didn't care. It was better than nothing. 

 

You jolted up as you heard a loud boom. Tamatoa had punched a wall! 

 

“Why did you do that?!” You yelled over to him. He didn't respond but instead pointed up. You looked to the ceiling to see a large rock was now slowly covering up the view of the ocean. The cave steadily became darker and darker, until a new light appeared. You squinted at the brightness, but as you eyes adjusted you saw it was just tamatoa. 

 

He had electric pink and blue marks covering his face, arms, and legs. And his shell was somehow an even brighter blue. 

 

Tamatoa noticed you staring at him. “Isn't it fabulous?” He shook his shell slightly to show off the glow. 

 

“If there's one thing I love, it's how bright and shiny I am.” He grinned and sat down. “Something you'll never even come close to.” He laughed. 

 

You looked down at yourself. He was right of course. But, that wasn't really a bad thing. Humans aren't supposed to glow in the dark. 

 

“Anyways babe, it's time for some beauty sleep.” Tamatoa laid his head on the floor and closed his eyes. 

 

You sighed and plopped down onto the plant again. “Keep it down babe” tamatoa called over to you. You rolled your eyes. You weren't even tired! You quietly sat up and looked through the bars. His glow was dimmer now, his breathing slow and steady. This was the perfect opportunity to escape! 

 

You pulled yourself up and began to climb the bars. You got to the top and slid down the other side and onto the floor. You looked up at tamatoa, and sighed in relief. He was still asleep. That's good. 

 

You tiptoed over to the door and peeked out. The cold air pulled at you, as if asking for you to go out there. You glanced back at your captor. You remembered the beating you had gotten the last time you tried to leave… you shuddered. You looked down at your hand. The cloth was still there from when those things had attacked you. 

 

You'd… just go a little ways. Maybe you'd even find a way out of Lalotai? 

 

You took in a deep breath and stepped into the night air. The sea above you was dark, and only faint lights reflecting from the fish's scales could be seen. 

 

You walked down the large path to the trees. They were much taller from the ground. Their swaying leaves and branches caused odd and eerie shapes to fall onto the ground. 

 

You walked further down the path until you reached a split in it. “...Tama went left earlier…” you spoke to yourself quietly. You turned to the right. 

 

You prayed you'd remember the path later and walked down the trail. 

 

You had been walking for a bit longer when suddenly you saw a large purple light appear in the distance. “What… is that?” You stared at the beam. It seemed to light all of Lalotai! The purple and pink shades pushed through the darkness and you noticed something moving inside of it. 

 

Now you just HAD to know what was in there! It could possibly be the exit!

 

You began to run. You leaped over a bush, and under a branch, dodged a carnivorous plant- but suddenly was stopped. You were on the edge of a cliff. Floating boulders and stones spiraled in front of you. But the light was just on the other side! You squinted your eyes. The object inside seemed to be swinging something around. 

 

You looked down at the ground beneath you and carefully hopped onto a boulder. It dangerously rocked as you landed. 

 

“WOAH-” you stuck your arms out for balance and looked back up at the light. It was quickly disappearing! Your eyes widened as you noticed the object had stopped moving as well. “D-did I miss my chance?” You whispered. The object suddenly seemed to noticed you and walked over to the edge. 

 

With a bright blue flash, it changed shape and began to soar towards you. 

 

You gasped and leapt off the rock back onto ground! You were NOT going to die to that thing! You sprinted through the trees and plants as quickly as you could. A deep voice called out to you, “HEY! Come back here!” 

 

You scrambled up the path and into the cave. The silhouette stopped just outside. You fell to the floor and gasped for breathe. 

 

The silhouette changed back to its original state. “Hey!” It whispered. “Get over here!” 

 

You shook your head no and backed further into the cave. 

 

“It's not safe in there!” They whispered louder. You looked over to tamatoa, the silhouette noticed and peeked in. 

 

“Human! Come here!” They spoke quietly. You furrowed your brows and scooted away again. Suddenly tamatoa blinked his eyes open. 

 

He glanced over at the cage, his head suddenly popped up as he realized you weren't in it. He looked down at you and sighed. “Good gods. Babe, why are you out?” He leaned his head towards you. 

 

The silhouette looked between you and tamatoa. The crab didn't seem to notice it. “I-I… “ you looked nervously to the dark shadow. “I thought I heard a noise… so I was gonna wake you up.” You lied. 

 

The crustacean squinted his eyes. “Really?” You gulped and nodded. 

 

“Well ok then babe.” Tamatoa picked you up and took you over to the pile of gold he had been sleeping on. 

 

“Aren't you gonna put me back-”

 

“No. You'll be fine here for the night. “ tama set you on his neck. You nuzzled into it and looked towards the door. 

 

A soft blue flash went off, and you thought you heard the sounds of wings flapping away…


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Tamatoa get in a fight

The next day, you both had woken up early. Tamatoa stretched his legs and stood up. “WOAH!” You slipped off his neck! But he quickly caught you. 

 

“Sorry babe.” He set you down. You raised an eyebrow annoyedly. “Did you not notice I was still there?” 

 

“No I did not.” He rolled his eyes, “but you can't expect me to remember something as small as you. “

 

You thought about mentioning his panicked look from last night when he saw you weren't in the cage, but decided against it. You didn't want him to try and kill you first thing in the morning. 

 

Tamatoa punched the wall of the cave, and the rock covering the ceiling rolled away. You covered your eyes at the sudden brightness. “Ah! A little warning?” You muttered as you rubbed your eyes. You then looked up and saw Tamatoa was standing next to the door, staring at you. 

 

“What do you want?” You walked over to him. Where you going back to the ravine again? 

 

Tamatoa smiled. “Oh I'm so glad you asked babe. “ He poked the ground and pushed you down so that you were kneeling next to what he wanted you to see. “Do you see that?” He asked, his face was twisted into a painful and angry look. 

 

You stared at the ground and frowned. Oh good gods! You had left footprints everywhere! You began to sweat as you panickedly looked up at the crabs face. 

 

“M-must be-” you tried to think of a good lie. “Foot prints?” Dang you suck at lying. 

 

Tama nodded agreeingly. “Indeed. And how did these get here? They weren't here yesterday. “

 

‘I guess he is gonna try to kill me first thing in the morning’ you gulped. 

 

“You heard a... noise, was it?” Tama gritted his teeth and pulled you back onto your feet. 

 

“I- I may have gone outside last night. “ you put your hands up defensively. Tama lowered his head and slowly moved towards you. You backed away. 

 

“B-but I came back!” You tried to smile. His eyes narrowed. He quickly grabbed you and threw you outside the door. You looked at the ground and saw scratches and larger footprints. 

 

“You were FOLLOWED!” He yelled. You ducked your head. “You know you aren't supposed to go out there! I told you not to!” The crabs face grew dark in the cold morning light. 

 

“Who was it?” He muttered. 

 

“What?”

 

“Who FOLLOWED YOU?” He snarled. 

 

“I-I don't know! It was some kind of monster!” Your eyes began to water. 

 

“ I'm not that stupid babe! Those are human footprints!” The crustacean yelled. Your ears ringed from the volume. 

 

You looked closer at the prints. He was right… they were oddly human. 

 

“I- th-that wasn't there last night! Some crazy bird thing chased me last night!” 

 

“Well I wish it had caught you.” Tamatoa spat. 

 

You looked up to him in pain. You were so stupid! Why did you leave? Why did you even come back?! 

 

You grabbed your head in frustration, and felt a small object in your hair. You pulled at it. 

 

“Hey, stop that.” Tamatoa noticed what you were doing. “Human, stop that!”

 

You pulled the piece out. It was a small flower made of gold, shells, and some pearls. Tamatoa must have put it there. 

 

You threw the piece at him. “I DONT WANT YOUR JUNK!” You yelled. 

 

The piece bounced off of his shell. His eyes widened. You turned and began to run away off the side of the trail. 

 

Tamatoa quickly picked up the flower and swung himself outside the door. 

 

“HUMAN! “ he shouted. “HUMAN GET BACK HERE!” He stepped outside of the cave. 

 

“Babe?” He called for you. 

 

You pushed through the trees. You didn't care if you were lost. You didn't care if you were going to die! You couldn't be near him any longer. 

 

You wiped your eyes as you stumbled over a rocky area. 

 

A sudden bright green dart shot past you. You looked quickly to where it came from. A plant had tried to shoot you with a thorn! 

 

You quickly ran away from it. “This place is crazy!” You gasped for air. 

 

“You're tellin me” a voice spoke up. You looked around quickly for it. It sounded vaguely familiar. 

 

Then you realized! It was the voice from last night. “This is all your fault!” You shouted. The voice chuckled. “My fault?”

 

“YES! You're the only reason I'm being chased out here!” 

 

Well that wasn't entirely true. It was your fault you had left the cave. But you certainly didn't want to pay the price! 

 

“My fault? “ the voice sounded bored now. “Mm… nope! I don't think that's right. You see, I was trying to save you.” 

 

You turned toward the voice. The owner suddenly swung down from a tree branch. You gasped. It was a human! You pushed the surprised look off of your face. No! You were supposed to be mad at them!

 

“How did you get down here?” You asked. 

 

“Uh… I was sent here?” The human laughed. You looked at them a bit closer. He had long curly hair, and tattoos covered their chest and back. He also carried a large hook in his hands that was about 3/4ths the size of you. 

 

“Really?” You frowned. “So you just… chose to enter the realm of the monsters?”

 

The man shrugged. “Yeah I guess so. Like I said I was sent. “ the guy looked you up and down. He gave a worried look. “Why are you down here?”

 

“...I may have… fallen?” You rubbed your arm. “I was climbing this big rock and-” 

 

A sudden loud crash cut you off. You looked over to where the sound came from. “BAAABE!” Your eyes grew large. You looked to the human and held your finger to your mouth. 

 

‘H I D E’ you mouthed. He nodded and pulled himself back up into the tree. You were about to follow, when two giant claws ripped two trees back out of the way. 

 

“There you are!” Tamatoa scowled. You turned to run away but he quickly grabbed you. “You're coming with me!” He furrowed his brow and squeezed his claw around you. You turned your head and looked back at the tree where the man had been. 

 

He was leaning out of it staring at the scene before him. 

 

“What are you looking at?” Tamatoa asked annoyedly. 

 

“N-nothing! Just your… uh… shell!” You smiled reassuringly. 

 

Tamatoa squinted down at you. “Ok…”


	10. Chapter 10

It was an awkward walk back to the cave. Tamatoa didn’t even try to shout at you, or tell you off or anything. You just sat in his claw, drumming your fingers against it nervously.

Tamatoa was deep in thought. He stared down at you, not even thinking about where he was going.

He remembered what he had called you the other day… while you had been sleeping.

“A little rarity” 

His eyes softened. He had been right. You were a rarity. It wasn’t often humans came to Lalotai. If other monsters had seen you, they’d probably try to kidnap you, or eat you. He was worried about that other human like being that was running around. What if they tried to take you?! He couldn’t let that happen… he wasn’t sure why… but he really didn’t want you gone.

Tamatoa sighed exasperatedly. It was time to start treating his rarity like it was actually a rarity.

He walked into the cave and set you carefully in the pile of gold. You watched him in silence as he pulled the trinket from earlier off of his shell.

“This is for you babe.” He held it in front of you. You pushed away his claw. “I don’t want it.” You said coldly.

Tamas eyes lit up in anger, but he quickly covered it. He gritted his teeth. “Come one babe, I made it for you!”

You turned away. Why was he trying to give you something? Hadn’t he just said he wished a monster had caught you? Hadn’t you just run away from him?! You thought he’d be throwing you around or something right now.

Tamatoa poked you in the back. You didn’t respond but instead began running your fingers through your hair. You were uncomfortable with this sudden change of moods he had.

The crab monster frowned. You were ignoring him! He moved in front of you, and placed his claw under your chin.

You stared blankly up into his face. You showed no emotion. No look of panic surfaced this time. Instead you only blinked.

“H-human! Pay attention to me!” Tamatoa demanded. You didn’t respond, though you still looked up at him.

His eye twitched as he looked down at you. He was infuriated! You deliberately not responding! He was going crazy! He had to do something to get your attention! He shifted from foot to foot slightly rocking while doing so.

You tried to turn your head away but Tamatoa stopped you. “Heyheyhey!” He snapped his claw quickly. “Stop that!”

You did as you were told and sat still. Ugh! Finally you responded to something! Tamatoas head hurt, he was thinking so much about this. This small period of time, this short morning had already been so much so far!

Today was not going to be a normal day, he decided. He moved his claw out from under your chin, but now pinched around your cheeks instead.

You flinched at the sudden grip around your face. Your cheeks squished slightly in his grip. He lifted you off the floor and close to his face. Two large eye staring into yours.

You began to sweat. You couldn’t hold this any more. You began to kick your legs.

“L-let me go!” You pushed against his claw. Tamatoa didn’t listen to you though.

Instead he just moved you even closer to his face. You were right next to his mouth now. Your eyes widened. You pushed your hands out infront of you and against his lips.

“S-STOP!” One of your hands slightly slipped into his mouth. OH GODS! YOU DIDNT WANT TO DIE! You violently pulled your hand out and flicked the spit off of it.

Suddenly Tamas mouth began to shake. OH NO! He was going to eat you! All of your attempts at freedom didn’t matter at all…

The crabs lips pushed out towards you. You shut your eyes tightly in anticipation. But it never came…

Instead your face was met with a warm feeling that covered it. You squinted an eye open.

All you saw was a dark shade of pink. When suddenly a new feeling arrived. It was also warm… but not as pleasant. This one was… wet. It slowly slivered over your lips.

Realizing what it was, you immediately began trying to push his face away again.

Tamatoa stopped and dropped you onto the floor. You wiped your mouth off disgustedly. You looked up to him angrily. His eyes were wide and glazed over.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” You yelled.

Tamatoas amazement instantly wore off. “What do you think it was?” He rolled his eyes and poked you. You covered your chest with your arms. Your face was turning a bright red.

“Good gods babe, have you never been kissed before?” Tomato taunted as he leaned down close to you. You leaned away from him.

“That’s n-none of your Business!” You stated angrily. You could feel the blood rushing to your cheeks. 

Tamatoa looked you up and down, smiling all the while. There was no way you weren’t his now! You did as he said, you wore what he told you to, and now after this, there was no way you could deny that you were his possession!

You slid away again. You didn’t want to be anywhere near him. “G-get away from me!” You stuttered. 

Tamatoa stood up. His massive body towered over you. “Babe, I just gave you something not even my grandma could have earned.” He grabbed you by the ankle and dragged you through the gold, closer to him. “So how about a thank you? Who knows, if you ask nicely you might get another one.” He smirked.


	11. Chapter 11

Tamatoa was extremely close to you. You pushed yourself out from underneath him and stood up, brushing yourself off. 

“Why, in the world would I ask you for a kiss?” You glared at him. You didn't even want the first one! You just felt super uncomfortable now. 

Tamatoa leaned his eyes down towards you. “Oh I know you're just trying to play hard to get babe.” The crab grabbed you around the hips and squished you into his cheek.

“I'm not ‘playing’ hard to get. I am hard to get” you muttered and pushed against his squishy pink skin. 

“What was that babe?” Tamatoa eyed you. 

“Let me go Tama-” you swung your legs and struggled to leave his grip. 

“Mmmm that's a cute nickname.” Tamatoa purred. You shuddered. You didn't mean to call him that! You had just cut yourself off for some reason!

“Any other little names for me?” He grinned.

“Slime of the earth” you muttered. 

“Huh?”

“N-nothing. It was nothing.”

Tamatoa moved you away from his face and held you in front of him. 

“You're an adorable little treasure piece aren't you?” He teased. 

“I'm not a treasure piece.” 

“Pfft what do you mean? You're great babe!”

“No, I know I'm great. I'm just not a possession. Now put me down.” You would have stamped your foot if you could. 

Tamatoa frowned. “you…” he hesitated. “You don't like being here… do you?”

“Yes! I don't like being here!” Finally he got it!

He stared at you for a long time. There had to be some way to make you want to stay. He quickly looked around the cave. He ran over to an old pile of trinkets and began to dig through it. Finally he pulled a shell out of it. 

It was slightly bigger than you, it being one of his old shells from when he was much smaller… and more… well, drab. He pulled the small shell over to the gold pile and set you on top of it. You looked around in confusion. 

“Uhhhh” you slid off the shell and leaned against it. “What are you doing?”

Tamatoa shushed you. “I'm doing something important.” He picked you up and set you on the shell again. You picked at a small bump on the dark purple shell. 

Tamatoa smiled down at you and quickly ran over to another pile. He quickly glanced at you to see if you were still on the shell, and then turned back to the pile. 

You were wearing orange and red colors, so maybe rubies would go best? He dug in the gems and pulled out the bright sharp colors. 

He had an armful of objects and turned around to see you were slowly sneaking toward the door. 

“Hey!” He dropped everything and ran over and scooped you up. 

“Are you trying to leave?” He looked like he was angry. No… upset? You weren't sure. 

Tamatoa looked you up and down. And carried you back to the shell. This time he turned it and set you inside of it. 

“Stay” he patted you on the head. 

“I'm not an animal!” You called after him. If anyone was it was him. 

He hurriedly picked up the objects and walked back over to the shell. He sat down next to you and began to place the gems onto the shell carefully.

“Ok that enough!” You pushed yourself out of the shell and landed on the floor. Tamatoa blinked down at you.

“Oh babe, did you want to do it instead?”

“NO!” You yelled, “I have no idea what you're doing! Or why! “

“I'm trying to be nice-”

“No! Being nice is complimenting someone, or asking them how they're doing. This? This is creepy! You stuck me in one of your old shells and are decorating it!”

Tamatoa stood up. 

“Why are you suddenly acting like this? This isn't how you normally are!” 

Tamatoa didn't answer. 

“Well?!” You shouted, “why are you being so weird!?”

A sudden idea popped in the crab's head. He smirked down at you. 

“Weird? “ he leaned down closer to you, inching closer and closer. “Are you saying you don't like how I'm acting?”

“Yes I don't like how you're acting” you rolled your eyes and stepped away from the slowly advancing monster. 

“So basically you like how I was acting before.” He raised a brow. 

You felt your face heat up. “N-no!”

“Oh babe, it's ok to admit it.”

“I'm not admitting anything!”

“You don't have to babe, but we all know the truth. So how long have you been into that kind of thing? You know… the taunting and such.” 

You covered your face with a hand. “Gods this is not happening.”

“Dawww am I embarrassing you?” 

You turned away from him, and tried to ignore him. 

“You looked so precious in my old shell” you jumped. He was RIGHT next to your ear. 

“Of course… you didn't look as good as I did when I was that small.” He laughed. 

“Hah” You laughed sarcastically. 

Tamatoa stared down at you. “I've never kissed a human before.” 

You frowned. “I didn't want that.”

“Well who cares what you want.” He rolled his eyes. “You're just a little trinket remember? “

You dropped your head. You were sick of him saying that about you. “No I'm not…”

“Think whatever you want babe. “ he sat down in front of you and pulled you over to him with a claw. 

“Either way you're stuck with me. “ he grinned.


	12. Chapter 12

“So anyways precious, how about we go on another little expedition?” Tamatoa cooed. He was holding you close to him. You were squished up against the skin on his neck. 

“How about n-OOH” You wheezed. The crab had squeezed you closer while you had spoken. 

“Yes?” He grinned. “Alright then babe, lets go!” He laughed. He stood up and tossed you lightly onto his shell. 

You landed with a small thud on the gold. 

“I've got something special to show you.” He winked at you and headed outside of his cave. 

Tamatoa walked down the familiar path towards the ravine, though before he reached it he took a sharp turn to the left. 

“Where are we going Tama?” You complained. 

“Be patient human, we'll be there soon” he assured you. 

A loud crack in sound made you jump. You rushed over to the crustaceans head and leaned onto it. “What was that?!” You whispered in fear. 

“Get off of my head” tamatoa shook his skull in annoyance. 

You fell back onto his shell. “Ugh why do I even ask you things…” you grumbled. 

The ground was beginning to become steeper. Soon you found, he was climbing a cliff. You had to hide inside a boat on Tamas shell, just to stay on! 

“Almost- there” he grinned and pulled himself up onto a ledge. You peeked out of the boat and gasped at the view. 

“Look at that” your eyes widened. You felt like you could see all of Lalotai from up here!

There was the ravine, and the floating boulders, tamas cave, the jungle, and even a few places you hadn't seen before! 

You spotted a large shadowy figure lumber around under the floating rocks. You saw those horrible flying creatures swarming around an unfortunate green lump. You could only assume that lump was alive.

“Is this what you wanted to show me?” You looked over at the crab. He was looking the other way though. 

“No babe.” He rolled his eyes and pulled himself up onto another ledge. You fell back into the boat. 

Well if that wasn't what he wanted to show you, then what? What could possibly top that view?

“This, is what I wanted to show you.”

You pulled yourself up out of the boat. Before you stood a ginormous beast! They must have been 4 times the size of Tamatoa! They had 8 long legs that resembled spiders. They also bore a large brown and orange shell. You realized they must have been another crab monster. The top of their body, unlike Tamatoas, appeared to be human. A female human at that. Her eyes were fully black, and you could see sharp teeth inside of her mouth. Her skin was a nice shade of brown, with large white splotches on her arms, chest, and face. 

“O-oh my g-gods” you stared up in fear. 

Tamatoa began to walked forward. You slid off his shell and pulled on one of his legs. “WHAT, do you think you're doing?” You whisper shouted at him. 

“I'm going to get a closer look." Tamatoa kicked his leg out away from you. “Come on babe it'll be fuuuun” he chuckled.

“N-no it won't! It'll be- “ you looked over at the huge monster. “Murdery. “

“Don't go tama! It'll be all murdery!” Tamatoa imitated you, waving his claws around jokingly. 

“Babe, this freak has the reaction time of a rock. “ he pointed at them. You looked over. It was true, they seemed to move extremely slowly. You watched as they reached up into the water and tried to grab at a fish. Though, the fish was much smaller and faster than she was...

“Why are we here?" You turned to him. 

“I wanted to show you how all the ships got down here!” Tamatoa grinned excitedly. “See? “ he pointed at the beast. Large planks of wood were sticking out here and there in their hands, and on their legs and shell. 

“I heard one of the ships fall down here a few days ago, so by now that animals probably forgotten all about it! “ he smiled. He stepped away from the ledge where you both stood. “I think I see it over there actually!” His eyes lit up. He quickly grabbed you and ran across the open area. The giant monster loomed above you both, not even noticing. You might as well have been a insignificant little bug. 

Tamatoa reached the ship and set you on top of it. You still stared at the monster. “Why do they pull ships down here?” You asked him. 

“I don't care babe! Just get searching! “ tamatoa hopped from foot to foot in excitement. 

You didn't move. Instead you stared at the giant's face. They looked like they were upset about something. They slowly made a grab for a squid that was swimming by. The small animal was crushed in her hands as she pulled it down into Lalotai. 

“Baaaaabe” tama poked you in the side. 

“GAH!” You hopped. “I'm going I'm going!” You rolled your eyes and walked over to a door that lead to the inside of the boat.


	13. Chapter 13

An woman had sent him down here. He thought back to it as he journeyed through the jungle. 

“Maui, I must ask you a favor.” Her voice was so sad when she had spoken. 

“They… they've been gone for so long. It doesn't usually take this long for them to come home. But it's been days! I cant- I cant bear it any longer Maui” 

Maui looked down at the small frail woman. He had known her for such a short time, and yet… he really wanted to help her. 

He had heard about the boats that were going missing lately. He was actually planning on investigating it soon. 

“Mam’,” maui bent down on a knee. They are on eye level with each other. 

“I am Maui, a shapeshifter, the demigod of wind and sea,” he grabbed her hand. “And hero of men. I will find your child.” 

It didn't take long for him to figure out what had probably happened to the boat. Maleah the leviathan had probably pulled it down. 

He had heard a lot about Maleah. A leviathan so desperate to leave Lalotai, they'd grab at ships and even animals in an attempt to pull them self out of this nightmare. 

Maui didn't really blame them for wanting to leave.. but he couldn't say he agreed with their methods. 

“I'm definitely going to have to stop them” who knows? Maybe it'll earn him a new tattoo. 

He had flown to the island entrance and was surprised to see a boat was tied to it. 

“Maybe they are still alive…” he hoped. He was right! You were alive! But.. why were you hiding from him? And more importantly… why were you with Tamatoa?

Maui had known Tamatoa for a quite a while. He considered the crab monster to be a friend, in a way. But how had you survived being near him? He wasn't typically the kind of monster to pass up a free meal like that… so there had to be something else. 

But Maui didn't want to just straight up walk into his cave and ask what was going on. That might cause something unpleasant to happen to the human he was keeping. 

Maui pulled himself up a large tree. He swung through the branches, which caused some freaky batlike things to scatter away. 

“Eugh.” He rolled his head around in his neck, with a satisfying clicking sound. 

“Oh I hope that this is worth it.” He connected his hook onto another branch and swung down to a lower plant. 

The demigod had watched Tamatoa and the human leave the cave together. “Man, they're like his little pet or something. “ he scoffed. 

You just sat there on his shell. Not even trying to leave or anything. Maybe you… maybe you liked it here? 

No that couldn't be it. And either way, he was gonna have to bring you to the surface with him. 

He followed you and the crab slowly towards the cliff sides. 

“No way” he couldn't believe how stupid Tamatoa was being. 

With a big flash, he turned into a bird and flew up and around to the other side where the leviathan stayed. 

“GOD!” He smacked himself in the forehead with a wing. “WHAT is he doing?” He watched as Tamatoa set you on a boat and prodded you to go inside. 

He had to do something about this. But what? Could he just… go down there and get you? That would definatly ruin his and the crabs friendship. 

He looked nervously to the leviathan. She seemed to have covered her hand in a black ink from a squid. 

She slowly turned her head towards Maui though. Her black eyes widened as she began to reach out towards him. 

Maui swooped out of the way and soared in a spiral around them down to the ground where Tamatoa was. 

He landed softly, his claws digging into the dirt, still staring up at the monster. 

“Maui?” He heard the familiar voice say. 

He turned to looked at Tamatoa. “Hey Crabcakes!” He quickly changed back to his normal form. “Long time no see!” 

Tamatoa nodded. “It's been a while. What are you doin down here man?” He seemed overly interested, which kindly caught the demigod off guard. 

“Well… I uh…” good gods, he couldn't just say he was here to steal his friends… other friend. At least he assumed that's what was going on. 

“I was sent down here to…”

Tamatoa leaned onto one of his claws. “Well? Spit it out Maui man!” He joked. 

Maui looked around. “I was sent here to kill the leviathan!” GODS why did he chose THAT?

“Ooh another tattoo for you? “ the crab yawned boredly, “that's some old news Maui. “

Maui scratched his head. He thought his tattoos were amazing! Way better than the stuff Tamatoa stuck on his shell. 

“And. You can top them how?”

Tamatoa smirked down at the man. “Ive got something way better than that. “

“Really?” Maui said sarcastically. “And what's that?”

“I've got myself a human.” The crustacean boasted. “They do whatever I want!” He examined his free claw. 

“You don't force them to do it do you?” Maui frowned. 

Tamatoa looked away from his claw, “so what if I do? “

“Tamatoa, you know how I am about humans. “ 

“Yeah yeah you're a big hero of man. “ the crab rolled his eyes. 

“Either way they're my human, so you don't even need to worry about it. “ Tamatoa smiled and shut his eyes. 

Maui was about to say something when Tamatoa cut him off. “So anyways Maui man, are you gonna kill that freak or what?”


	14. Chapter 14

You walked through the boat. This one was much smaller than the other ship you had been in.

This one had two rooms. A lower one, and a staircase inside which led to the top one.

The design was very similar to the ships from you home. Though you always had preferred your canoe, you did admire the craftsmanship of this boat.

You ran your hand along a wall as you looked around in silence. You could hear muffled voices outside. Who could Tamatoa possibly be talking to? You rolled your eyes, it was probably himself.

You wondered if the leviathan could speak…What would they even talk about? Maybe they had some interesting stories. Maybe if you befriended them they could…

You shook the idea out of your head. You had to focus on the task at hand! “What am I looking for?” You asked yourself. Tama hadn’t really been very specific this time. You looked around the room. There wasn’t much in it. Just a small table, some boxes, and the stairs.

You walked over to the table. A small box sat on top of it. The box was delicately carved, you noticed. There were small notches in the sides of the lid, and curving lines swirling around the edges. There was also a large blue circle in the middle.

“This box is beautiful!” You gushed. You lightly ran your hand across the smooth surface. “But… I don’t think Tamatoa would like it…” you frowned. You lifted the lid gently. Maybe there was something shiny enough inside?

Your eyes widened at the sight. There was a dark blue necklace sitting inside of the box. That… eerily familiar necklace. You lifted it into the air and examined it. You watched as it reflected the small amount of light onto a wall.

“Oh… oh no” you grabbed the stone and looked closer. Memories suddenly began to flood back. “N-no…” your voice shook as you look at it. This had been your friends necklace. Had hey been looking for you? It had only been a few days right? You friend was ok right?

Then you remembered something else. This was a big boat. That meant that there had been multiple people on it. What had happened to everyone? You quickly tied the necklace around your wrist and ran towards the staircase. You stumbled and tripped up the stairs.

It _cant_ be possible! They can’t be-

You turned the corner. There in front of you stood a gaping hole in the ship. “No” your jaw dropped. Your knees shook as you slowly walked over to the hole. You fell down next to it and ran your fingers over the crimson marks on the wooden boards. Scratches covered the edges. Torn tapestries and blood was all that seemed to remain. You fell back away from it.

“They c-can’t be dead “ your voice shook.

You stood back up and staggered to a wall and slid down onto the floor. You gripped the stone tightly in your hand. You pulled your knees close and buried your head.

You felt your eyes begin to burn. The tears began to swell, and soon they slowly fell down off your face and onto the floor.

The salty liquid faintly stained the boards. You rubbed your eyes, but it was useless, for the tears where still forming and falling.

Forming and falling.

Drop by drop, you began to feel something new…

It was not anything you had really felt in a while. At least you hadn’t allowed yourself to.

You felt scared.

You looked down at the stone tied to your wrist. They had been such a good person to you. They had even went looking for you…

You clenched your fists and pulled yourself up. You glanced over at the hole. You stepped over to it silently and bent down. You picked up a torn piece of cloth that was stuck on a splintered piece of wood.

You unwrapped the necklace from your wrist and set it in the fabric, which you folded around it.

You stood back up and made your way out of the boat. You hid the items in your hand as you walked over to Tamatoa.

“Hey babe. What took ya so long?” He raised a brow.

You swallowed the lump in your throat.

“N-nothing. I just wanted to find something shiny enough for you. “

“Did you find anything?” He hopped up to his feet and smiled.

“…not really.” You glanced down at your hand.

“Well that’s disappointing.” Tamatoa frowned and moved to pick you up. You stepped away from his claw though. “Could I… could I walk?” You asked.

The crab eyed you suspiciously. “…ok babe.”

“Lets go before that animal notices us, “ tamatoa pushed you forward with his claw.

You looked over to the leviathan nervously. They were leaning down over something.

“Tama-”

“Yeah babe?”

“What is she looking at?”

“…nothing babe. Let’s just keep moving.”

You walked in silence. Your hands began to sweat, but you didn’t care. When you and Tamatoa had finally reached the cave you turned towards him. “… do you know how to make a fire?” You asked him.

“Fire?” He looked confused. “Why would you need that? It’s not that cold babe.”

“…it’s for something else.”

Tama glared down at you. “You’re not going to set me on fire babe. I’m not _that_ kind of hot.”

“I’m being serious Tamatoa, this is important to me.”

The crab frowned. “Why do you need it so bad?” He poked you. You stumbled backwards.

“I just do!” You growled.

“Tell me why!” Tamatoa pushed you again.

You felt the tears returning. You angrily blinked them away. “I need it so I can burn this!” You yelled. You lifted your hand to show him the cloth.

The crustacean stared at the cloth in confusion. “You’re going to burn a tiny piece of cloth? Babe that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of. “

He pushed passed you and walked over to his normal pile and sat down. He stretched his limbs out and motioned for you to come over.

“Humans are so weird.” He laughed as you slowly walked to the pile. You wiped your nose on your arm.

You looked up into his eyes.

“Please Tama… it’s important to me…”

Tamatoa looked down at you. His expression changed. He picked you up gently and held you close to him. “Human are you crying again?”

You nodded. “It’s not over you though so don’t get any ideas…” you emptily joked.

“What happened babe?”

“I don’t want to talk about it” you murmured.

“Ok… you don’t have to. “

You sat in silence as he held you to him.

“I’ll help you make the fire. “ Tamatoa sighed.

You closed your eyes and gave a tiny smile. “… thank you. “


	15. Chapter 15

Tamatoa was still holding you. You looked up at him in silence. “W-well I’d better… go look for wood or something.”

Tamatoa didn’t let go. “T-tama I need to move.”

He sighed, and grudgingly let go of you. “You do know how to make a fire right?” He asked. You nodded your head. “Alright then.” He followed you out of the cave and to some trees that stood at the end of the path. You snapped some sticks off and picked them up. “That it?” He raised a brow at you.

"I thought you’d need more”

“… no this is enough. Should I make the fire inside of the cave?” You asked.

“No we can make it outside. Just this once though babe.”

You followed Tamatoa back to the cave. You set the sticks down into a large pile.

"Hm…” Tamatoa stared at the pile. “What are you burning?”

You didn’t respond. Instead you began to look for a piece of flint, or something similar. “Fine. Be that way.” Tamatoa rolled his eyes and picked you and the pile up”

“W-what are you doing?” You looked over your shoulder at him and then back to the pile. 

"If we’re gonna start a fire then we need to go somewhere specific.”

The crab carried you in his claw the whole way there. At one point you opened your hand and unwrapped the cloth. You stared down at the necklace. 

The bright blue reflected in your eyes. You sighed and covered it up again. 

"Whatcha got there babe?” Tamatoa lifted you closer to his eyes. 

You looked into his eyes. “Your pupils are different sizes.” You stated, trying to change the subject. 

“I know! They’re beautiful aren’t they? Such a lovely shade of blue and green as well. I think the gold really bring out the color in them.” He grinned. “The golds also a nice contrast to the purple and pink of my-” he cut himself off. 

“Hey don’t change the subject.” He frowned. “What’s in your hand?”

“Nothing…” 

Tamatoa eyed you. “I don’t believe you human.” He set you on the ground. You stumbled forward and looked around. 

There were large pits of lava surrounding the area. Large bursts of fire where shooting out of holes in the ground as well. 

“Wow Lalotai really is hell” you muttered. 

"What was that?”

"Nothing. Can I have the pile please?” You watched as the crustacean slowly and carefully set the pile onto the stone clearing. 

You grabbed a large stick and walked over to one of the holes. 

“Let me do that.” Tamatoa pulled the stick away from you and pushed you away from the hole. 

"Don’t need to take care of a hurt human. “ he complained. You walked back over to the sticks and watched as a large column of fire burst up in front of Tamatoa. He quickly put the stick in and let it catch on fire. 

"There. See?” He tossed it onto the pile. 

You sat down next to it and watched the other pieces slowly begin to catch as well. The orange light made your eyes sting. Or were you about to cry again? You didn’t know which. Tamatoa sat down a few feet away from you. 

 

You slowly unwrapped the cloth and put it in the fire. The fabric curled and turned black before its ashes began to slowly rise up to the ceiling. Now all that was left was the necklace. You stood up and carefully placed it on top of the fire. 

Tamas eyes lit up. “What are you doing?!” He stood up and made for the fire. But it was too late. The strings of the jewelry had turned to ash. The stone snapped and fell to the bottom of the fire. 

"Why did you do that?!” Tamatoa asked you exasperatedly. “That was a nice necklace!” 

You frowned. “What would you have done with it?” 

"I would have put it on my shell!” 

You shook your head and sat down next to the flames. The crab scowled and sat back down. “What a waste. I can’t believe I let you do that." “

Your head shot up to look at him. “You can’t believe you let me do what? Mourn the death of my friend? “

"Wait what” 

"That was my friend’s necklace. That was a cloth from a tapestry. The people-” your voice shook now, “the people of my village… were looking for me…” 

You wiped your eyes. “They were looking for me and that… that THING killed them.” You stared down at the stone which laid in the ashes. “That ship was from my home.” 

Tamatoa tilted his head. “I…I’m sorry”

"No you’re not…” you stood up and walked over to him. He didn’t move. You sat down and leaned onto him. “You have no reason to be sorry…” 

Tamatoa sighed and laid his head down on the ground. You scooted up next to his right eye. You looked over at the fire. The smoke twisted and curled around itself as it rose. You looked down at the crab monster beside you. You leaned down and kissed the back of his eye.

“But thanks anyways…”


	16. Chapter 16

“Did you just…” Tamatoa lifted his head and looked at you. “Kiss me?”

You instantly were filled with regret. “I… well… uh”

“Oh baby do you really like me like that?” he swayed his body, causing you to fall over. “Thats adorable.”

You sat up and scowled. This is what you get for trying to be appreciative. Well never again!

“Daww babe don’t be like that.” He stood up and picked you up by the hips. “I like you too” he laughed.

“I don’t like you! “You kicked your legs. “I was trying to be nice! Clearly, I should never do that again!” you gritted your teeth.

Tamatoa rolled his eyes. “nice gets you killed down here babe.” He tossed you into his other claw as if you were a doll. “Or at least into trouble.” He purred.

"Ugh,” you pushed at his pincer. “Put me down tama”

“Mmmmmm…” tamatoa looked like he was considering it. “I don’t think I will.”

You sighed annoyedly. “Well what are you gonna do now that you’ve got me?” You pushed on his claw again.

"Well…I could do any number of things…” he sighed boredly. “But one particular one comes to mind.” He stood up and gently set you on his shell.

“Lets go back to the cave babe. It’s way too hot here for my liking.” He winked at you.

You laid down onto the gold and crossed your arms. “Ugh what a creep.”

Why did you even kiss him in the first place? It’s not like that’s the only form of gratitude that you could have shown. You could have just as easily said thank you and been done with it. You glanced up at him.

What is he planning to do? Hopefully nothing horrible like eating you.

The crab looked back at you. “…you know I know why you did that.”

You raised a brow. “Did what?”

“You kissed me. Remember babe? It was only the best experience of your life.”

You closed your eyes. “As if.” You muttered. Tama waited for you to say something else. When you didn’t he started again.

“I know why you kissed meee” he sang tauntingly.

"And why is that?” You asked. Man he was never going to let you live this down.

“I’m irresistible. No man nor woman can deny my beauty. You just proved it. You love me. I’m too dazzling for you to not shower with love.” He grinned.

“Truly inspiring.” You said sarcastically. You shifted on the gold slightly. His shell is very uncomfortable.

"I know I am. You have great taste human.” He walked up the long trail to the clearing outside of the cave.

You sat up and looked at the cave. “Its a pity really.”

"What?” His eyes shot to look at you. He suddenly seemed worried.

“Well,” you looked down at his shell. “I mean if you really are that dazzling, why live in a cave?”

"Because I don’t want to be bombarded with fans babe. Besides that’s what you’re for. “ he laughed and stepped inside.

You sighed. Of course you were back to _that_ conversation again. “I disagree.” You muttered.

“Hey Tama, what kind of crab are you?” You tried to change the subject. Even if it was still him talking about himself…

“I’m fabulous.” He lifted you off his back and set you down onto the familiar pile.

“No that’s not what I meant. I mean what species of crab? Are you a spider crab? “

"Good GODS no. I’m a coconut crab babe. “ he snapped his claws in the air and shook his shell in the light.

“Fascinating.” You chuckled.

"Why are you laughing babe?” Tamatoas smile fell.

“Well, it’s just seeing as how you live in a cave. I thought you were a hermit crab.” You joked.

“Ughhhh.” The crab groaned. “Don’t make jokes. They aren’t funny.” He rolled his eyes and laid down next to you. “You totally ruined the mood.” He muttered.

You quickly looked at him. “Uh… what mood?” You squinted at him. What was he thinking was going to happen? That you were gonna kiss him again? That he was just, that AMAZING?

Tamatoa glanced over at you and saw your expression. “What? It’s too late babe. Moods gone.”

"There was no mood to begin with!” You pushed at his arm.

Tamatoa laughed. “HAH yeah there was. Why else would you have kissed me?”

You smacked your face and slowly dragged your hand away. “Because I was try to be NICE” you said through gritted teeth.

"It’s this new thing! You should really try it sometime!” You scowled and stood up. You stomped over to the door of the cave. Tamatoa quickly hopped up. “Uh where are you going?” He asked.

“I’m getting some fresh air.” You didn’t even look at him. Kinda rude dude. Even the authors getting annoyed.

“Not alone youre not.” Tamatoa stepped forward.

“Yes alone.” You turned towards him. “I need some private time.” You furrowed your brow.

“…how do I know you’ll come back though? “ tamatoa asked. He frowned down at you. He didn’t want you to leave him… he liked you.

“…” you looked down at yourself. You didn’t have anything for assurance. You looked up at Tamatoa. He stood there expectantly.

"You’re going to have to trust me…” you frowned.

Tamatoa laughed. “I think not. Babe you try to escape way to often for me to ever trust you like that.”

You sighed. You hated it when he was right. “Fine. Just… follow me from afar then. “ you stepped outside the door and began to walk down the trail. It felt good to be able to walk for once. You seemed to be carried a lot down here so the exercise was nice.

You glanced behind you. Tamatoa seemed to be annoyedly watching you. Clearly he didn’t like babysitting. Well neither did you.

You suddenly stopped walking and looked around. You heard water rushing. “What’s that?” You turned towards the sound.

“Oh that’s-”

You cut him off. “I wasn’t really asking for an answer.”

"Oh…”

You walked towards the water. Stopping yourself as you neared the edge of a cliff. You pushed the tall grass down and sat. Your legs swung over the edge as you looked at the view.

There was a enormous water fall in front of you. You looked to where it started and saw that a giant rock was poking into the ocean above, which caused the water to pour down to the lake below you. It looked like it was about 40 feet below you.

You heard a loud snap behind you. You looked over and saw the crab had accidentally broken a tree in half.

"Hey can you maybe not sit on the edge?” Tamatoa pushed another tree out of the way.

“Why not? I like it.” You looked back down at the water.

"How deep do you think that is?” You asked the crustacean. He glanced over the edge and back to you.

“Maybe 20 or 30 feet deep. Why?” He asked suspiciously.

You stood up and looked back at him. “Are there any rocks or anything?”

"No. I go in there sometimes. Why are you asking me all of this?”

You didn’t answer. Instead you moved back towards him. “Babe?”

You quickly turned around and ran towards the edge. You leaped off the ground and flew through the air. You felt the wind rush through your hair and past your face. You swung your legs together and plunged down into the water.

You quickly began to move up and surfaced. “WOO!” You screamed happily. You splashed around in the water giddily. You were extremely happy to be in the familiar salt water. You began to swim towards the beach of the lake. You could see Tamatoa was racing down a little trail towards you.

You pulled yourself out of the water and began to shake your hair out.

“That-” tamatoa ran over to you and gasped for breathe. “Was the stupidest- thing… I have ever- seen.” He huffed and sat down.

“Never do that again.” He looked down at you and closed his eyes.

"I make no promises.” You laughed and sat down. You stuck your toes into the water.


	17. Chapter 17

The cool water tickled your toes. You felt a cool breeze blow on your back as you sat next to the lake. You looked out over the liquid to the waterfall. The loud rumble of the water as it fell was a nice and calming sound. 

A loud sigh suddenly sounded from behind you. “Babe it's totally boring down here…” the crab whined. 

Now that was a sound that was not nice and calming. 

You shot a look at the monster. “Well you can go back to the cave then, ya hermit.” You turned back to the view of the lake. 

Tamatoa dropped his head onto the sand, causing small specks to fly up and land on you. You jumped at the sudden feeling, but quickly relaxed when you realized what it had been. 

Tama raised an eye off the ground. “What was that?” He asked. 

“Huh?” You turned to look at him. 

“You seem a bit jumpy.” The crustacean smirked. “Maybe you shouldn't leap off of cliffs anymore.” He chuckled at his lame pun. 

You rolled your eyes and tried to hide your smile. You turned back to the water. You saw a small fish swim by your feet. 

“Aww how cute. It's so small” you smiled at the tiny fish. You wondered if it had come from the ocean or not. 

“What's cute babe?” The crab shifted himself and scooted closer behind you. The fish quickly swam away at the sight of the giant. 

“...nothing.” You sighed and flopped down onto the sand. You stared up. The crabs face was hovering above you. 

“Do you mind?” You raised a brow. 

“No, you're fine babe.” He didn't move. Instead he just continued to hover above you. 

“That was sarcastic tama” you rolled over onto your belly and pushed yourself up. You stepped over 2 paces and laid back down. Tama frowned and laid his head down. “Babe are you mad at me”

“No.” You looked up at the ocean and sighed. The sun was sparkling through the water down at you. 

“You seem mad.” The crab grumbled. He looked at you and then up at the ocean. 

“Why do you like the ocean so much?” He asked boredly. 

You looked over at him. “I grew up on an island. I was always surrounded by the water. It was always so clear up there.” 

You sat up and looked at the lake. “Down here it's kind of… dark. I don't know… I just miss my home. The ocean reminds me of it a lot. “ you stared at the water again. The small fish had returned. 

Tamatoa looked up at the ocean again. “What's that bright thing up there?” He asked. 

You quickly looked at him. “The sun? Do you not know what the sun is?” You laughed. 

Tamatoa scowled. “No! What is it? “

“It's a star in the sky that makes it day time. Then at night it's replaced by the moon.” You rolled your eyes. 

“And stars are bright?” Tamatoa blinked. 

“Yeah I'd say so.”

“Am I a star then?” 

You looked over at him. “Uh…” should you tell him? “...uhhh yeah… you're a star tama.” It'd be easier to feed his ego than attack it. Tamatoa was grinning smugly. Obviously he was happy to have a new thing to compare himself to. 

You looked back at the water and wiggled your toes as the little fish swam around. 

“What are you doing?” Tama leaned over to you. 

“I'm playing with a fish-” you stopped yourself and stared down at the fish. It had attached onto one of your toes. You shook your foot in annoyance. The fish didn't budge. 

“AGH!” You hopped to your feet and away from the water when you felt a bite. But the fish didn't fall off! Instead the small fish stayed attached to your toe, and a long tentacle attached to that was pulled out of the dark murky water. 

“What in the wo-” Tamatoa quickly picked you up and tried to shake the fish off. 

“TA- AM- MA!” You shouted. “I-I DO-ONT THI-INK THIS IS WO-ORKING!” 

The crab stopped shaking you and looked around frantically. He quickly snapped his claw around the tentacle. The soft flesh fell to the ground with a sickening splat. 

Suddenly, a loud screeching sounded from the bottom of the lake. The water shook, and soon massive waves began to form. The water rushed over the beach as a giant squid like monster surfaced. 

The beast roared a high pitched sound. It's arms swung through the air and smacked against Tamatoa. The arm knocked lose some gold items which fell into the waves. 

“NO!” Tamatoa quickly dropped you without thinking and began to look for the lost items. You fell into the water. 

“TAM-” you were pushed down by a wave. Water rushed into your mouth. You swam up and spit the water out. You gasped for breathe but were pushed under again. 

The squid's arms waved frantically around searching for what had caused its pain. It roared again. The sound was so loud it moved all throughout Lalotai. 

Tama desperately pushed through the water and grabbed a golden plate that had fallen. “There!” He tossed it onto his shell. “Lets go-” he looked down at his claw and gasped. He quickly looked over at his shell. 

WHERE WERE YOU?! 

He pushed through the water violently. “BABE?!” He shouted. The squid heard him and swung an arm at the crab. Tamatoas head smacked into the water. Another arm shot up through the water and pushed him backwards onto his back. 

“ACK!” He shouted. What was that one word he needed? Oh yeah. “H-HELP!” He called out. He looked around frantically. Suddenly he spotted a familiar shape near the water fall. “MAUI!” He yelled. 

Maui leaped off the cliff he stood on and swung his hook down onto the monsters skull. A loud cracking sound echoed off the rocks. The beast fell down into the lake and sunk back to the bottom. 

Maui splashed down into the water with it. 

The waves were calming down now. Tama spotted you floating near by. He reached over and picked you up. “Babe? Babe?!” He poked you roughly. Maui began to swim over. 

When he finally reached you both he pushed tamatoa onto the beach. 

“Maui they won't wake up” Tamas voice shook. 

“Let me see them…” he held out his arms. 

Tamatoa gently placed you in his arms. Maui laid you on the ground and placed his head against your chest. He could hear your heart beating. 

He then proceeded to push his two hands down on your chest. 

“What are you do-”

Maui shushed him and pinched your nose. He placed his mouth onto yours and exhaled. 

"HEY!" Tamatoa shouted. 

Maui ignore him and then moved back to pushing on your chest. 

You fluttered your eyes open and began to cough and sputter. “Eughhhh” you groaned. You hacked water out onto the sand. 

“Ooooh” your shoulders shook as you looked around you. Everything seemed blurry. You couldn't quite hear right. There was a high pitched ringing sound stuck in your ear. 

“Babe?” You thought you heard someone say. You weakly turned your head. A large purple and pink blurr sat before you. 

“Babe?!”


	18. Chapter 18

Tamatoa tried to roll back onto his feet. Maui was helping you stand up. 

“Maui!” Tamatoa rocked back and forth. “Maui help me up! I gotta see what's wrong with my human!” 

Maui glanced down at you and back a the crab. “...ok.” He slowly let go of you and was surprised to see you could still stand. He walked over to Tama and began to push on the bottom of his shell. Tamatoa flopped back onto his feet and he quickly scuttled over to you. 

“Babe are you ok?” He asked worriedly. 

“...” you didn't respond. Your vision was beginning to clear up and you could see that the purple blur was actually Tamatoa. 

“Babe?”

Maui walked over to you and wrapped his arm around you. “You live nearby, don't you Tama? Let's go there.” He carefully bent down and picked you up. 

Tamatoa scowled at the sight but allowed it and began to lead you and Maui back to the cave. 

When you arrived tamatoa laid down, and Maui set you on top of the crabs neck. 

“Thank you….” you whispered as Maui moved to sit down. 

“You're welcome!” He winked and sat down. 

You tiredly looked around the cave. Tamatoa was trying his hardest not to move too much. You wanted to go to sleep. You poked Tamas neck. 

“What is it babe?” The crab raised and eye to look at you. 

“I want to go to sleep.” You spoke softly. 

“Ok go to sleep.” Tama set his eye back down. 

“Can you tell me a story?” You asked. 

Tamatoa glanced over at Maui. “Hey. Meathead, tell us a story?” 

Maui rolled his eyes. “Ok. Let's see…” he tapped his chin. “How about how I pulled up islands?”

“No I've heard that one. Tell me how you killed that leviathan.” Tamatoa suddenly perked up. This would be a good story, would it?

Maui shrugged. “Ok.” He set his hook down on his lap and began to explain. 

“I turned into a giant hawk, and then I flew around their face which caused them to stagger away. I then swooped down to a ship and grabbed some rope. I tied it around their legs and they fell to the ground. I think that's about the time when you left crab cakes…” Maui looked up at the crab. He wasn't even listening, he had fallen asleep! 

Maui rolled his eyes and sighed. He glanced up at you. You were laying on your stomach watching him. “Is that all?” You asked. 

Maui shook his head. “Nah there's more.” He smiled. The demi god patted the gold next to him. You slid off the crab and moved over next to him. 

“So after they fell onto the ground, I ran over to the side and began to push them off of the cliff side. She rolled down into a huge ravine. Way bigger than the one tama usually goes in. I dont think they died though.” Maui scratched at his hook. 

“They're probably gonna be stuck down there for a while.” He chuckled awkwardly. 

You laid down in the gold and stared up at the ocean. “That's good.” You gave Maui a small smile. “I'm glad she's not dead…”

Maui blinked. “Yeah me too.” He leaned back and looked up with you. “Do you miss the surface?” He asked. 

“Yes”

Maui glanced over at his friend. Tamatoa stirred in his sleep. Maui opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. 

You closed your eyes in the silence. You felt a wave of calmness rush over you. You felt Maui shift beside you, and for once, you actually felt safe in Lalotai…

“You uh…” you opened an eye and looked at Maui. 

“You could always come with me to the surface. I have to go back soon anyways.”

You quickly sat up. “Really?!” You grinned

“Yeah really?” Tamatoa blinked his eyes open tiredly. “Good GODS Maui, are you trying to steal my human?”

“No! I was just offering. And they're not *your* human. They're a person.” 

You smiled at Maui. Tamatoa scowled and stood up. He reached down and picked you and and gently set you on his shell. 

“No, they're my human. I'm not gonna let you steal them.” The crab squinted his eyes down at the demi god. 

“I'm not stealing them!” Maui raised his hands in defense. “Ugh I hate it when you get like this. “ 

He looked down at his chest. “I know right? He's such a weirdo sometimes.”

Was… was he talking to his tattoo? Ok both of these dudes are weird. But one was weird, with and escape from Lalotai. 

“Maui you shouldn't talk to yourself, it's creepy.” Tama walked over to the cage and set you in it. You sat on the ground and scowled. “Can I not stay in the cage?” You glared at him. 

“Eh…” tamatoa boredly waved his claw. “You're fine in there babe. At least I know you won't run out of there.” 

Maui stood up and walked over to the bars. He knelt down and put his hand on the cage. “I'll take you with me when I go” he winked and stood back up. 

“What was that Maui man?” Tamatoa had sat back down. 

“I'm gonna go back to where I've been staying. “ Maui lied and walked towards the exit. “See ya around.” He grinned and walked outside. 

You liked through the bars of the cage and sighed. You laid down and cushioned your head with your hands. 

“Don't get any ideas babe. That creeps not taking you anywhere” the crab called over to you. You rolled over and faced the wall now. 

“That's what you think…” you muttered. You closed your eyes and fell asleep.


	19. Chapter 19

You looked around yourself. It was oddly quiet for a night in Lalotai. You moved over to the bars of the cage and began to climb out. You lightly landed on the ground and glanced over at Tamatoa. He was sleeping in the corner of the cave. His bioluminescent light bounced off the walls. 

You quietly tiptoed outside the cave and breathed in the clean air. It was freezing outside! But it was better, compared to the stuffy air inside the cave. The dim light of the moon barely shone through the water. It was almost pitch black out here. 

Maybe you should go back inside? It might be safer. You could always wait to leave on a brighter night… but still. It seemed like not many creatures were up right now. It might actually be better. 

You looked back into the cave. There was some glowing algae near the door. You ripped some up and squished the goo into your hands. 

You stepped back outside and began to slowly start walking down the path. The bioluminescent goop on your hands helped guide you a bit. You swung one hand out in front of you so you could see. The other was over your stomach as a bumper in case there were any low branches around. 

Suddenly a loud snapping sound occurred. You shot behind a tree and looked around frantically in the dark. The only lighting offered was the eerie green from your hands. 

You heard a low growl as something pushed through the shadows. You remembered tamatoas markings had been somewhat frightening. Maybe you could imitate to intimidate? You pressed your hands onto your face and began to smear long lines of green over it. 

The monster turned around the tree and spotted you. You could barely make out some long fangs surrounded by black fur, when it suddenly began to whine and ran away. 

Wow! This paint really worked great! You proudly put your hands on your hips and stepped away from the tree. 

“What are you doing?” 

You jumped at the voice and turned around. The monster was glaring down at you. 

“I was… getting some fresh air…” you answered the crab quietly. 

“Uh huh.” Tama rolled his eyes and picked you up. He looked a lot more intimidating than you with the markings on his face. You noticed pink and blue markings on his arms as well. How long had those been there? 

“I know what you were doing. You were trying to leave me again.” He growled. You shook your head no. 

“N-no! I was getting fresh air!” 

The crustacean was unconvinced. He turned around and walked back towards the cave. The green and blue lighting mixed together in the dark. You struggled in his grip.

Tamatoa sighed tiredly. “Now why are you doing this” 

“Huh?” You pushed on his claw. 

Tamatoa pinched his forehead in frustration. “Always with the struggling and the lying and the running and the shouting” he grumbled. 

“Can't we just stop for once?” 

You stopped pushing. You looked up at his dark face. He looked… upset. He entered the cave and walked over to his usual spot. 

“Honestly I'm sick of it.” He sighed and sat down, tucking his legs underneath his shell. 

You sat still in his claw. You traced circles on the giant pincer. For once you didn't have a retaliation. 

The crab moved his claw closer to himself and laid his head down next to it. You tried to push yourself out of his grip. “Can you let go?”

“No.” he said flatly. 

You frowned. “Why not? You've had me sleep on your neck before and I didn't cause any trouble!”

“Well that was before Maui showed up.” Tamatoa raised his head and looked at you. “I don't want you galavanting off to that semi-Demi…homewrecker!” Tama seemed to be struggling to find the right words that fit his frustration. 

“Home wrecker?” You raised a brow. “Were not married Tama. We're not even dating.” You muttered that last part. 

“...you're right…” tamatoa uttered. “You shouldn't have let him kiss you though.” 

“Kiss me? When did that happen?”

“When you were passed out!”

Your eyes grew wide. “Hold on a second. He kissed me… while I was passed out? And you didn't stop him?”

“I tried!” Tamatoa raised a claw. He smirked slightly, glad that you were believing this so easily. 

You hung your head. “Why does everyone down here keep doing this to me?” You whispered. 

You felt the crab shift. He had laid his head back down. You leaned onto one of your hands and closed your eyes. 

Why would Maui do that to you? Surely this had to be some kind of misunderstanding. After all, you were hearing it from a giant crab who had done much worse to you than Maui has. Why should you believe him?

You glanced down at Tamas face. One of his eyes was peeking up at you but quickly shut. 

Ugh what a creep. 

You closed your eyes again and tried to fall asleep.


	20. Chapter 20

You had been sleeping for a couple hours when you had finally woken up. You sighed and kept your breathe slow. You don’t open your eyes.

'I don’t wanna be awake today...'you thought to yourself. Maybe if you kept your eyes closed long enough you’d go back to sleep.

But sadly, this plan didn’t work out. Tamatoa was awake too. He stood up and began to go about his morning business. You kept your eyes closed though. Maybe he would set you down and let you sleep in. That’d be nice of him… but once again this plan didn’t work.

Tamatoa looked down at you in his claw and rolled his eyes. “Hey” he called. “HEY HUMAN WAKE UP!” He shook his claw.

“GAH!” You snapped your eyes open and glared at him. “I’m UP TAMA!” You shouted. God! This crab needed to calm down! (I guess he was feeling a bit crabby this morning.)

“Oh good!” He grinned. He tossed you onto his shell and continued with his morning routine. You smacked onto his hard shell. You laid down on the crabs shiny back and shut your eyes.

“Babe are you sleeping again?” Tama looked back at you annoyedly. He had stuff to do! He couldn’t have you sleeping! The only reason you were here was to help anyways.

“Yes Tama, Im asleep.“ Obviously this was the voice of a sleeping person.

“Well wake up, we’ve got stuff to do.”

You lazily waved your arm in the air, "Booooo”

Tamatoa rolled his eyes and gave a small hop. You flew into the air and slammed back onto his shell. “OOF!” You pulled yourself up and frowned. “Nooooo” you groaned. You flopped back down onto the shell.

“Why are you being so lazy?”

“I’m not being lazy, I’m being tired. There’s a difference” you laid your head back down.

The crab sighed and lifted you off his shell. “You’re not gonna do anything all day are you?”

You shook your head slowly.

“Eughhhhhhh fine. Well just stay in the cave.” Tama said in a goofy, yet sarcastic voice. He gently set you down on the pile of gold and moved away to another side of the cave. You shifted slightly in the gold and rested your head on your arm.

You were glad Tama was letting you rest today. Instead of taking you out to do more stupid stuff like look for more treasure, or get dangerously close to a huge monster.

You slowly drifted back to sleep. The light of the cave faded away, and soon you were standing on a boat instead. The sounds of Lalotai shifted into the calming sounds of the waves. You looked around yourself confusedly. The heck was going on?

“…what?” You turned around. You were on the surface? And in your boat? How did you get here?

The sun was just setting, and you could see the oh so familiar stars in the sky. You turned your canoe towards home. Well, you weren’t gonna question a free ticket home. Finally! You were free!

The wind pushed through your sail as you hurried back to your island. The boat pushed into the sandy beach. You almost tripped as you ran up the hill and through the trees. “MOM!” You shouted gleefully. You pushed though the brush and into the village.

“GUYS! EVERYONE! IM HOME! IM BA-” you stopped. Where was everybody? There were no fires lit, there were no dancers in the field, no children playing on the path. None of your friends were anywhere to be seen.

"Hello?” You called out for someone. You walked through the village confusedly. Where had everyone gone?

You turned around a corner but quickly shot back. Tamatoa?! Why was he here? How was he here?

You peeked back around the corner. What was he doing?

The crab turned its head towards you. You gasped and ducked back.

"What was that?” Tamatoa squinted his eyes. He began to move down the path to where you were. You quickly moved to the other side of the path and hid behind a house.

"Babe is that you?” You heard him call out. You felt yourself shrink a little.

"Babe you don’t have to hide from me” he smirked. He turned the corner. You could see one of his claws poking out next to the house where you hid.

You moved away to the other side and began to run towards the center of the village. You glanced behind you. The crab was nowhere to be seen. You reached the center and ran up a path that led to the trees.

You looked around frantically for any sign of people. “Guys?” You called out. “ANYBODY?” You shouted. You knew that tamatoa might have heard that but you didn’t care. You just wanted to see someone familiar. Someone you loved. Anyone!

You heard a stick snap behind you. You whipped around.

"Maui? “ your eyes grew wide. You ran up to him and hugged him. “Maui where is everyone?” You pulled away.

But… that wasn’t Maui anymore. Instead tamatoa stood there.

"What do you mean babe?”

“W-what?” You rubbed your eyes. What is going on? Wasn’t he Maui just a second ago?

“Tama where is everyone?”

“ I don’t know what you mean babe. It’s just you and me. It’s always been like that.”

"No…no I’m at home. I need to know where everyone is” you frowned. You felt a lump in your throat begin to form. “Where is everyone Tama?”

He didn’t answer.

“T-Tama. Where are they? Where is my mother, and my friends? And- and the children… and the dancers… and the fishers- and…. and” you felt tears begin to roll down your cheeks.

You fell to your knees and wiped the tears. Tamatoa grabbed you by the shoulder and shook you.

"Hey”

You didn’t respond.

"HEY!” He picked you up and began to shake you again. “WAKE UP!” He shouted.

Your eyes shot open. You stared at Tamas face. Your vision turned blurry again. You wiped more tears out of your red stinging eyes.

“Remind me to never let you sleep in again.” Tamatoa frowned. He pulled your close to his chest. You sniffled and hugged him.

“What were you crying about anyways?”

“N-nothing…” you blinked more tears away.


	21. Chapter 21

You wiped your nose and looked up at Tamas face. He looked worried. Was he worried about you?

"What's wrong?" You asked. Your voice was still a little shaky, but it was quickly calming down. 

Tama didn't answer. Instead he walked over to the cave door and stepped out side. "Lets... go for a walk. " he slowly set you down, but kept an eye on you as you began to walk. 

"I-" he stopped himself. 

"What?" 

GAH! You were giving him that look again. Why did you always have to do that? It always distracted Tamatoa. That curious look was going to get you in trouble one day. 

Tamatoa shook his head. "Nothing. I didn't say anything." He rolled his eyes and pushed you forward. You stumbled over some rocks, Tama caught his breathe but quickly relaxed when you gained your balance. 

You glared up at him and began to walk faster. 

The crab sped up as well, though he didn't really have to. It was really easy for him to stay close. 

Tamatoa opened his mouth to say something again but quickly shut it. 

You glanced behind yourself at the huge crustacean. He was being oddly quiet. "Some thing on your mind?" You asked. 

Yes! There was so much on his mind! How could he possibly word it? He was worried about your dream, about weather you were going to leave him, how he'd make you stay, if you even wanted to stay, how nice you looked in the light, how much better he looked in the light. There was so much to say! 

Tamatoa finally chose a subject. "Yes, I was thinking about how specifically gorgeous I look in this lighting." He grinned and winked down at you. You rolled your eyes and began to walk again. 

"Why are we walking? Are we going some where in particular?" You asked trying to change the subject. 

"No, I just wanted to walk." Tamatoa scratched his chin. That was reasonable, wasn't it? 

"We never walk any more babe."

"Pfft," you laughed, "we've only walked once, and that was yesterday. And you were pretty much just stalking me as I walked, so I don't think it even counts."

"You're right. We never walk. So I chose for us to walk. " tamatoa laughed and pushed you forward again. This time you were unprepared though, and fell into a puddle of mud. 

"Ugh" you pushed your self up and shook some of the mud off your hand. "WHY, did you do that?" You looked up at the crab annoyedly. 

You began to wipe more mud off of yourself. 

"I didn't mean to babe." Tama squinted his eyes and frowned. Why would you even think such a thing about him?! He pushed you as a joke. It wasn't his fault you were so tiny and unbalanced. 

You flung some mud off of your arm and onto his leg. "Oops!" You called sarcastically. 

"Hey!" Tamatoa smirked and scooped up some more mud. "Two can play at that!" 

"Oh no," you began to back away. "Don't you *dare*" tamatoa cut you off though as he slapped the mud ball down onto you. 

"HAH! Now your looks match everything else about you babe. Boring and gross." He laughed. 

You grinned up at him. "You fool!" You yelled jokingly, "you've just given me more to work with!" You ran toward him and hugged him around his leg, coating him with the mud. 

"Now your outsides match everything else about you too!" You laughed. Tama blinked down at you, he seemed to be processing what you had just said. 

Tamatoa chuckled and pushed you off of him. "Hardy har har" he scraped the mud onto the ground again and looked down at you. You were covered head to toe with the brown goop. 

"Yeah we need to clean you up." He carefully picked you up and began to march down towards the lake. 

"But isn't there a giant monster in there?" You frowned. Some of the dried dirt on your face cracked with the movement. 

Tamatoa squinted down at the water. "Mmm... your right." He sighed. "Oh well. Guess you have to stay as dirty as a pig." 

You lifted your arms in protest. More dried dirt cracked and broke off. "I can't stay like this! Are there no other bodies of water down here?" Tama tapped his chin thoughtfully. 

"There is... one little place." He began to moved through the trees. 

"Are you sure you want to got here babe?" He nervously glanced down at your face. You looked very determined. 

"If it means getting clean, then yes." You scratched at the dirt on your arms. 

"Don't do that babe, you end up scratching yourself. " 

You stopped and sighed. You leaned into your hand and looked up at Tama. 

"So how far away is this place?" You asked. 

"Not too far. But it's kind of... unsafe."

You looked tamatoa up and down. Unsafe? For a monster of his size? "Really?" You raised a brow. 

"Yeah, don't want my little treasure to get hurt, or... taken." He hesitated.

Right... he still thought of you as an object... "I'm not a treasure piece." 

"Whatever." Tama pushed a branch out of the way and stepped into a large clearing. Giant stones and blocks piled up in front of you both. You looked around yourself. "Where is it?"

Tamatoa pointed up. You craned your neck to see a large rock was shooting into the sky. 

"What... is that?" You gaped. 

"That, my Petit trésor, is an ancient giant. "

"Well, why is he here?" You asked confusedly. How did a giant as huge as that, even bigger than the leviathan, get stuck down in Lalotai. It looked like his body reached far into the ocean. 

"Not sure. But he did have some cool stuff on his shoulders. " Tamatoa laughed and began to climb up the stone giant. 

"So... is he not alive then?" You asked. 

"No, he isn't. He's missing a head, but I think he died from something else." The crab commented as he passed an enormous crack that splintered out from the side of the giants chest. 

"Oh." You blinked at the sight and looked up ahead of you. 

"So where is this so called water?"

"It's above you babe. You're gonna be in the ocean. " tamatoa stated, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. 

"Wait, really?" You looked at him excitedly. Maybe this would be your chance to escape! You could swim away, to the surface! 

"Don't get too excited babe. You have to keep close." 

"Why?" You looked over to him. 

"...there are... a few problems swimming up in the water near the top of the giant. "

You glanced up at the water. Tamatoa was near the top of the chest now. "So stay close, ok babe?"

"...alright." You agreed. You stared at the bright blue ocean. "Huh?" You rubbed your eyes. For a second you thought you had seen a person swimming around up there.


	22. Chapter 22

Tamatoa continued to climb up. “So… when you say problems… do you mean problems that will affect me? Or just you?” You asked.

Because you were slightly convinced the problem was that humans were up there. Heck maybe you were near an island. 

“I mean problem for you and me.” Tamatoa looked down at you. 

You nodded and looked back up. You were very close now. Maybe 20 feet away. You looked down. 

That was a bad idea! 

The ground was so far away, you felt a little sick at the sight. The trees looked like grass from up here! You nervously scratched at the dirt on your arm. 

Finally the two of you had reached the top. “Ok babe. Just… poke me when you're done.” His face turned slightly red. “Just hurry ok?” You took in a big gulp of air as Tama pushed you up into the water. 

You pushed on his claw, and surprisingly, he let go. Odd… if he didn't want you swimming away, then why did he let go? Did he really trust you that much? 

You quickly began to scrub and brush the mud off of yourself and out of your hair. 

You could only imagine the brown cloudy water surrounding you. You swam up a bit and squinted an eye open slightly. You could see the crabs beautiful shell through the smoke. 

But… there was something else in the water… you could barely see it. But it was swimming around in the cloud. It looked… almost human. 

That's not possible though! You're the only human down here. Right? 

You swam down, careful not to fall out of the water. The smoke was starting to clear and you could now see a face staring back at yours. 

Dark black eyes stared into yours. A large toothy grin appeared on the other swimmers face. Their teeth were extremely sharp, like spikes. Definitely more than 32. 

The lighting blurred the colors down here but it almost looked like their skin was blue.

You were beginning to run out of air. You let a bit of it escape as you started to swim down to Lalotai. 

But the person stopped you! They had grabbed you with their long claw like fingers. You kicked your leg, trying to get them to let go. But instead they began to pull you away from Lalotai. 

You let a bit more air escape your lungs. You desperately kicked your leg, but to no avail. The water was slowing you down too much! 

The person swam quickly towards a large cave. Your lungs were SCREAMING! It felt like they were on fire, they wanted to breathe so bad! 

The person pushed you into the cave and let go of your leg. You quickly swam up towards the air pocket. 

You flung your head up and sucked in as much air as you could. You looked around the cave. It was brightly lit… though how you weren't sure. Large seashells reflected the warm lights back into your eyes. You turned in the water and saw a small rock beach and pulled yourself onto it. 

You laid down on the rocks and stared at the ceiling. 

The mysterious person pulled themselves out of the water as well. You quickly sat up and scooted away from them. 

“WOAH!” You gasped. They… didn't have legs! And you had been correct. Their skin was in fact, blue. They also had large fins on the sides and top of their head. 

You had been kidnapped by a merperson?

Tamatoa sat boredly on top of the giant. “Eugh what is taking them so long?” He complained to himself. 

He glanced up at the water. “Humans can't hold their breathe *that* long can they?” He frowned. He stood up and stuck his claw in the water, a few drops sliding down his arm. 

He waved his pincer around in the water but couldn't find you. 

“Oh no” his eyes grew wide. He looked around quickly. 

Where did you go? 

“BABE?” He shouted. 

He spun around on the giant's shoulder and spotted a large rock formation. It was the only other one in sight.

He hurriedly began to climb down the giant. “I told them not to swim away! I told them to stay close!” He growled. 

“I told them it was dangerous!” He leaped down the leg and onto the ground. 

The crab began to run now. “I trusted them to do this!” He snarled. 

His anger grew and grew as he ran to the other large formation. Good gods he hoped you were up there. 

You slowly stood up. “Can you… hear me?” You asked the fish. They just grinned at you again. Their large pointy teeth were freaking you out. 

The look they were giving you looked like they wanted to eat you. 

The merperson gave a low gurgling sound from their throat. 

‘I don't think they can talk…’ you thought to yourself. 

You bent down and picked up a rock that was slightly bigger than your hand. 

The fishs black eyes watched you closely as you stood back up. They began to crawl towards you. You backed up against the wall. 

A tune began to rise out of their mouth as they moved towards you. It was a calming melody, slow and soft. Your head began to feel fuzzy. 

“Wh-what the “ you began to lose your balance. You looked down at the fish. Their grin seemed to grow larger and larger as they continued their song. 

The rock slipped out of your hand as you covered your ears. 

“S-STOP!” You yelled. The siren continued. The song grew louder and louder now. The melody banging into your ears. Their hypnotic voice echoed off the walls. 

You fell to the floor. You felt the fishs long fingers curl around your right wrist. They yanked your hand away from your ear. Their song was turning dark now. The pitches began to crunch together. 

They pulled your wrist up to their mouth and bit down into your skin. “AHHHHHH!” You screamed. You pulled your arm out of their grip and held it close. You swiftly kicked them in the gut and moved up the beach and onto a ledge. 

The siren held their stomach and stared up angrily at you. They hissed loudly. 

“Oh SHUT UP!” You shouted at them from your ledge. You held your arm close to yourself. The bite in your skin had been small, and hadn't gone very deep. But it was still bad. 

You squeezed your wrist tightly, trying to put pressure on the wound. You glared down at the siren, who was now trying to pull themselves up to you. 

But as they did, you saw a dark shape form in the water behind them. Quickly it kept out of the water in an explosion of droplets. 

“T-TAMA!” You gasped. You watched as he angrily picked up the merperson. He pinched their tail tightly and threw them into a wall. The fish let out a squeal of pain. 

He swung his claw down and smashed them into the rock beach. 

“Serves you right.” He growled and turned to you. “And as for you human, we have some talking to do.” He raised his claw out to you. You slowly climbed onto it and sat. He pulled you close to his chest and went back into the water. The salt stung in your wound, but it didn't last long anyways. 

Tamatoa fell out of the water onto some rocks right below. 

“Thank you Tama-” 

“I trusted you.” He cut you off. “I trusted you to quickly clean yourself off and not do anything stupid, and yet you didn't listen to me!” 

“But I-”

“I don't want to hear your excuses.” He scowled. “Im… I'm glad you're safe.” He muttered and began to walk down the rock formation. 

“But I'm still angry with you.”


	23. Chapter 23

You huffed, “why are you angry with me? This was all your fault! If you hadn't thrown that mud all over me, then I wouldn't have been kidnapped by that fish!” You snarled. 

“Honestly you always go about blaming things on me when I wasn't the cause of them!” You pushed on his claw. His grip loosened and you slipt out on the ground. 

“Well, you-” He tried to think of a come back, “You- You are so infuriating! I don't know why I even saved you, I've lost pieces of gold more valuable.” His eye twitched in frustration.

You stared up at him in disbelief. ‘Well as long as where getting things off our chest, let me just say how absolutely conceited you are.” Your voice shook with anger and… sorrow. You thought… you thought you had been growing closer to him. But obviously he really did only think of you as a trinket. You spun on your heel and began to run down the steep narrow path. 

“H-HEY COME BACK HERE!” Tamatoa called after you. Though he couldn't move as fast because of the size of the path. “HUMAN!”

You ignored his calls and darted down the path. You stumbled over some rocks that stuck out of the ground, but you caught yourself. You swung yourself around a large rock formation and tried to catch your breath.

“BABE?” You could hear him calling for you from a distance. You held your breathe praying he didn't see where you went. You heard a thumping sound as his feet scuttled away. You sighed in relief  
Finally! You were free of that creep! You looked around the dusty terrain. “Haha!” You quietly laughed to yourself. You pushed your hands onto your hips. “Freedom!” you sighed. 

…

Well this is awkward.

You had been fighting for this for so long. You finally escaped! ...what were you supposed to do now? You definitely weren't going to go back to *him*. But at the same time you hadn't really made a plan after escaping. 

“Well what do I do now?” You let your arms fall. You looked at the ground and kicked a rock. But suddenly an idea popped into your head. You looked up excitedly. “I know what to do!” You grinned. You turned towards the trees and began to run towards the foliage.

You had to find Maui! But, where could he be staying? You didn't exactly know how big Lalotai was. Maui could be anywhere! The sun was starting to go down too… you weren't sure if you'd make it out here all alone in the dark. 

But suddenly you heard voices in the distance! Familiar voices.

You pushed through the leaves and branches careful to be as quiet as possible. 

“I don't know man, they're just so problematic! I'm sick of dealing with them” You heard Tamatoa say. You quickly ducked behind a trunk of a tree.

“Its sounds to me like you were the one picking the fight.” You heard maui chuckle.

“What's so funny Maui man?” Tama sneered. 

“Well it's just, I was actually sent here to get them,” you heard tamatoa shift slightly, “and I was worried you wouldn't want to let go of them. Crazy right?” 

Wait he was sent here to save you? Thats perfect!

You waited for Tamatoa to say something. Wow this was a really long pause. Had he walked away?

“O-oh?” You finally heard him again. 

“Yeah. Haha can't believe I was worried over nothing.” Maui chuckled. 

“...” tamatoa didn't respond. “Y-yeah…” 

You slid down the trunk of the tree. Now sitting you could see their shadows that were bing cast on the branches above you. 

“Well… I'm gonna go back home then. Maybe they'll be there-” Tamatoa muttered and turned away. 

You didn't hear the rest of what Tama said. 

You listened as Maui got up. “You'll tell me if you see them, right?” Tama asked without turning around. 

“Uh… sure? But I don't see why you want me to.” Maui chuckled once again. 

Tamatoa walked away. 

You slowly stood back up. 

Maui turned around to look towards you. “Is someone there?” He asked. He bent over and grabbed his hook. He swung it around in his hand. 

You slid out of your hiding spot and onto his view. “It's just me “ you raised your hands. 

Maui relaxed and set his hook back down. 

“What are you doing here?” He raised a brow. “Why'd you run away from crab cakes? He thinks you don't like him anymore.”

Really? You shook your head. “I don't… I don't know. I'm mad at him right now” You stepped towards the Demigod. “I just want to go home. To the surface” you pointed up. 

“You said you were sent here to do that anyways.” You looked up at his face. “Can you at least show me how to leave? You don't even have to come with.” 

Maui looked conflicted for some reason. 

“Maui?” 

“I… promised I'd tell Tamatoa if I saw you. I think he wants to say goodbye…” 

You furrowed your brow. “I… don't think that's what he wants.”

Maui looked down at you. “Come on. I'll be there. I won't let him take you back. He's my friend. I just want to keep my promises”

You crossed your arms and frowned. “You're sure… you can protect me from him?”

“I swear, I'll protect you with my life human.” Maui bowed jokingly trying to lighten the mood. 

Good thing he was friends with Tama. At least he wouldn't have to follow through on that promise.

Promises… can get complicating sometimes. 

You slowly reach you hand out and took his. “...alright. Just a quick goodbye.” 

Maui gave your hand a small squeeze. “Don't worry. It'll be ok. “


	24. An Ending

As Maui began to lead you back up the path to Tamatoas, you began to wonder if tama really did just want to say goodbye. 

Maybe… maybe he hadn't been all that bad. He did share some genuinely sweet moments with you. Even if they were followed by being unpleasant again. 

Maybe he really did just want to give you a nice goodbye. Maybe it would work out ok. 

Maui stopped you outside of the cave. He leaned in the door way. “Hey crab cakes?” He called. 

You heard Tamatoa grunt. “I uh… found the human.” Maui stepped inside now. You hid behind his back. 

You heard the crab shift. “Really? Where are they?” He sounded excited. 

You peeked out from behind the demigod. “I'm right… here tama.” You stared across the room at him. 

Tamatoa sighed, “babe! You had me worried.” He walked over to Maui and you. 

Maui quickly swung his arm in the way. “We… just came to say goodbye.” He smiled. 

Tamatoa stopped in his tracks. “Wait, say goodbye?” He looked over maui's shoulder to you. 

“Babe, you're not leaving me, are you?”

You timidly nodded your head. “I have to go home” your voice was so quiet now. 

“But… but I thought- No!” You looked up at tama as he said this. 

“You live here! With me!” He moved his claw to grab at you. Maui pushed you out of the way. 

“TAMA STOP!” He shouted. “They have to go home! I made a promise to their family.” Maui tried to explain again. 

“I'm all they need now” Tamatoa rolled his eyes and pushed the demigod out of the way. He quickly picked you up around your sides and eyed you. 

“Let me go tama!” You pushed on his claw. “I can't stay here!” 

“Oh sure you can!” Tamatoa tossed you onto his shell and stepped over Maui. 

Maui pushed himself back to his feet. “You aren't keeping them here tama. They're coming with me” he swung his hook threateningly. 

“Oh? What are you gonna do about it?” Tamatoa scowled. “Fight me?”

“I don't want to fight you.” Maui growled. “But I will if I have to. “

And with that tamatoa swung his claw into the demigod. He flew across the room, but before slamming into the wall he quickly changed forms into a giant hawk. He pushed through the air and soared around the cave.

Tamatoa snapped his claws at the bird, but he missed. Maui swooped down and grabbed you by the arms, tossing you onto the ground. 

He landed next to you and changed back to his original form. Tamatoa spun around to look at him. He growled angrily and picked him up, squeezing his claw as tightly as he could. 

“Let him go!” You shouted. You ran up to the decapods leg and kicked it. He glared down at you, “babe, I've had just about enough of you” he swung his leg, which made you fall to the ground. 

Maui could barely breathe at this point. Gripping his hook tightly, and with a big flash of blue light, and changed into a mouse. He scurried up tamatoas arm. 

“EW GET OFF!” Tamatoa swung his arm. Maui quickly fell off, changing back into his human form he swung his hook, latching onto tamatoas leg. 

Maui swung in the air for a few seconds. You ran over to him as tamatoa tried to shake him off. 

“What are you doing?!” Tamatoa looked freaked out. 

The hook circled around tamatoas leg a few times until there was a disturbing crunching sound. 

You stared up at the demigod. He looked petrified, as did tamatoa. 

Maui pulled his hook into tamatoas leg further. 

“STOP THAT” Tamatoa kicked his leg more frantically now. “THAT HU- AHHHH” he swung Maui into a wall. The hook still stuck in his leg. 

Maui slammed against the rock. But quickly stood up and ran over to tamatoa. He leaped up and grabbed his hook, his body weight bringing it clean through his friends leg. 

Maui landed on the floor with a thud. You ran over to him as Tamatoa stumbled around the room. 

“Maui!” You moved closer, “are you ok?” You placed a hand on his back, he quickly jerked himself away. 

“Maui?” He stood slowly. You looked over to Tamatoa. He had laid down on the other side of the room. He was silently cradling his leg. Tears rolled down his face. 

“M-my leg… you cut my leg off! You- YOU USELESS DEMIGOD” he screamed. Maui bit his lip and stepped towards him. 

“T-tama” his voice shook. 

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Tamatoas voice wavered as he shouted. “GET OUT OF HERE!” 

Mauis shoulders shook as he held back tears. He looked down at the floor and turned to leave. 

“...meet me outside…” he whispered. 

You watched as he left. You stood alone in the room now. Maui waiting outside. Tamatoa sobbing in the corner, unaware of your presence. 

You stepped towards him. “...I” 

He looked up at you. “What do you want now?!” He cried. 

“I...I'm sorry” you frowned. “It shouldn't have ended like this”

“Well it did.” He scowled. “Congradulations human, youre… free. Just leave me alone now.” He turned away from you. 

You stepped towards him again. You reached up to your hair and pulled out the piece he had given you. 

You gently placed it on the floor and turned to leave. 

“...goodbye Tamatoa.” 

You walked outside of the cave where Maui was. “Are you ready” he asked. His tone was darker than usual. 

“...yes” you sighed. 

Maui walked down the hill, and towards a large Geiser. He pushed you up onto it silently and sat down, facing away from you. You stared at his back, looking for some kind of sign that he was ok. But then you spotted something. 

A new tattoo? 

Of… him… fighting tamatoa. 

You decided not to tell him about it. 

Suddenly, a large burst of water sprang out beneath you both. You shot into the air and through the ocean to the surface. 

“AHHH!” You flew into the air and planned back into the water. 

You swam over to the island where you boat was still waiting. 

“IM- IM BACK!” You screamed. You pulled yourself up onto the rocks. You stared up at the sky, and the water beneath you. 

“IM BACK!” You laughed and shouted. 

But… wait…

“Maui?” You looked around. 

“Where did he go?” You wondered aloud. 

He seemed to have vanished. 

You stepped onto your boat and pushed it away from the island. It seemed like the gods themselves wanted you home, and wind and water pushed you home quickly. You landed on the shore and ran up trough the trees. 

“THEYRE BACK!” You heard someone shout. You felt someone embrace you. And another! And another! Soon it seemed like the whole village was around you. 

“Are you ok?”

“What happened?”

“What are you wearing?”

“Where did you go?”

You couldn't stop smiling. You felt your heart pound in your chest as the village asked these things. 

“I- I'm safe now.” You realized. You smiled as you looked at the people around you. 

“I'm home”


End file.
